


Rise of Nightwing

by Fanofeverything101



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Dick and Donna sibling relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24321457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanofeverything101/pseuds/Fanofeverything101
Summary: In a shocking move, Slade attacks the Tower and abducts the Titans, not long after Dick finally reveals the truth about Jericho's death. Refusing to let his friends pay for his mistake, Dick tries to find and rescue them, with some unexpected help.*A bit of a sucky summary but I think it's better than what originally was. AU of 2x09-2x13. Rated T to be safe*
Comments: 24
Kudos: 87





	1. Darkest Hour

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Welcome to my other AU of Titans season 2. It starts with episode 9, not long after Dick tells everyone the truth about Jericho. It is not connected to any of my other stories. Also, I wasn't exactly sure how to start this chapter, so it might be a bit sloppy and a little rushed, but I hope you all like it!

Gar sat at the kitchen island, silently stewing. It had been a couple of hours already since Dick revealed the truth about what happened with Jericho and how he died and yet, Hank, Dawn and Donna were still fighting with him about it. After he told them, Rose stormed out of the apartment and building and no one stopped her. Jason and Rachel both yelled at him briefly before they walked away, probably to their rooms. Kory stayed with the group of former Titans though Gar didn’t really know why. Hopefully to try and keep things civil and to keep everyone from losing their heads. He though, after processing what he had just learned, took himself out of the situation and the room while they went to a different room themselves so they could fight without forcing everyone to hear it. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he could still hear them though.

Personally, Gar wasn’t truly sure how he felt about Dick right now. He was a bit upset that Dick didn’t tell them truth about Slade and Jericho when Deathstroke first showed up, but he wasn’t furious like the others were. Personally, he wouldn’t want to bring up his past mistakes if he didn’t have too and he didn’t really understand why Hank, Dawn and Donna were so mad at Dick. From what he understood, they were with Dick every step of the way. They made the decision to get Jericho involved together. Yet, they were putting all the blame on him.

And it’s not like Dick went out of his way to kill Jericho, and his lie didn’t change the big details. Slade was still the one to technically kill Jericho. Dick didn’t hide behind him or force him in the way or something. Jericho made that decision himself. He supposed that Dick didn’t have to go to the church in the first place, but he had just attacked Donna, his friend. He probably would’ve done the same if he was in his shoes, and he knew that the others would too though they didn’t seem to think about that. And besides, Slade had tried to kill Rose. It was very possible that he could’ve killed Jericho for simply siding against him. Gar just didn’t understand how they were all so furious and how they figured that Dick was the only person at fault. It didn’t even seem like they were even mad at Slade. Just Dick.

“I can’t believe him.” Rachel muttered angrily as she stormed around the kitchen, apparently looking for something, though Gar didn’t know what, nor did he really care.

“I can’t believe any of you.” Gar replied with a harsh tone, surprising Rachel. She turned around to face him and seeing the stony expression on his face, asked, “What?”

“They were a part of what happened too Rachel. And honestly, the truth isn’t that much different than what he had originally said happened.” Gar explained, his voice just as harsh as it was before which still stunned Rachel just as much as his words did. She had never heard him talk like that before.

Once she processed what he said though, she shouted, “He didn’t have to lie!”

“You’re lying too, remember?” Gar questioned, voice quieter but just as infuriated. “Or have you finally told Dick what’s been going on with your powers?”

“He,” Rachel started, then stopped as she tried to figure out how to defend herself. She knew that Gar had a point, but she didn’t want to admit it at all. She was still mad at him for their feet when Jason was kidnapped.

She opened her mouth, though she still had no idea what to say, but then she spotted something big flying straight for the window. With a loud crash, the window shattered into thousands of pieces and she and Gar both instinctively ducked. She started crawling over to the other side of the island where Gar was to make sure he was okay and to see what was going on, but the sound of gunfire made her pause.

Suddenly, Gar appeared in front of her, also on his hands and knees. He grabbed her hand and said, “It’s Deathstroke, we gotta move!” 

**2018TITANS2018**

Dick rushed towards the sound of a gun going off. Donna, Dawn and Hank had been yelling at him for hours about Jericho and his lies and he let them, fully aware he deserved it. Kory was also there for a while, trying every now and then to interfere and calm them down, but she then got a phone call and left to answer it. Finally, they walked out of the room and he made his way to the training room, needing to get some frustration out. The second he got to the room however, he heard the sound of something shattering. Before he could deduce what it was, he heard a gun being fired.

Before he could get to the main room where the sound was coming from, he saw Gar and Rachel running towards him. Right behind them, he was able to make the figure of Deathstroke in all of his armour with a gun in his hand. Immediately he pulled them along and run behind them. That way if Deathstroke started firing again, the bullets would hit him instead of the kids. Ahead of him, he could see all the others coming into the hall, wondering what was going on. Seeing Deathstroke, they started running along with them.

They all ended up on the roof before Dick realized what a mistake that was. It was the worst place to go, but from where they had been when Slade arrived it was the only place that they could go. The elevator and emergency stairs leading down were on the other side, along with the suits. As far as he was aware of, no one actually had any weapons. This wasn’t going to end well.

By the time everyone realized they were trapped, Slade had come out on the roof as well, holding out his gun. While they might have him out numbered, the man was an extremely skilled fighter and with a gun, could easily take down at least two, maybe three of them before they could reach him if they were going to try and fight him, and Dick wasn’t willing to risk that. There had to be a way to get everyone out alive.

“Slade, your problem is with me. Leave them alone.” Dick said, doing his best to remain calm despite the panic flooding his body.

“If I recall correctly, these three were with you when you got my son involved.” Slade replied, pointing his handgun at Hank, then Dawn, then Donna. He then turned even more and aimed it at Jason as he said, “And this one, this one should be dead.”

Dick’s, and everyone else’s eyes widened as they realized what Slade meant and was about to do. He immediately started running forward as he yelled, “No!”

Before Jason could process what was happening, Slade pulled the trigger. But then Dick was in front of him, right before the bullet got too close. The force of the bullet pushed Dick backwards, right over the ledge of the roof.

“Dick!” Jason cried out as Dick disappeared from sight. He took a step to the ledge, then turned back to Slade and shouted, “You b*****d!”

Before he could reach him, Slade pulled out three concussion grenades and threw them out at the approaching vigilante. Jason, and the others who were also about to attack him, were then blown back down to the ground. Not wanting to risk them getting back up, especially since he wasn’t sure about some of their powers, he threw a gas grenade filled with chloroform. Almost immediately, all seven of them were knocked out. He had made the chemical bomb so strong that if it wasn’t for the ventilator in his mask, he’d be out cold too, despite his abilities.

As soon as he was sure they were all out for the count, he walked over to the ledge and looked down. Instead of landing on the sidewalk or road, Grayson had landed on a balcony only two floors down. He was lying on his stomach so Slade couldn’t see the bullet hole but he was able to see some blood around his head. He tried to focus his hearing on the man’s heart, wanting to make sure that he was dead, but with the sound of the others breathing, their hearts’ beating and Jericho becoming very present in his mind at the sight of the so called ‘hero’s’ body, he couldn’t focus.

“Well, I guess that takes care of that.” Slade commented to himself. Inside, he could feel, hear Jericho screaming at him, giving him a headache but he pushed it to the side and turned his attention to the unconscious figures on the roof. He had work to do.


	2. Slade's Daughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Just a heads up, I changed Rose’s backstory a little. Nothing major, just some details, so don’t expect it to be identical to the show. Hope you guys like this chapter!

Rose walked down the crowded straight, her gaze down so she wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. She could only imagine what the people around her would think of a girl with white-blue hair and an eye-patch. That wasn’t the main reason she wouldn’t look at anyone though. If she could, she would find a secluded road, or park or forest or even just a room where she could be alone to think. There was none of that in San Francisco, not where she was and she couldn’t stay in the penthouse. Not with the others. She needed time to think things through without listening to the fighting that was erupting behind her as she walked out.

Though hours had to have passed since she left, Rose still struggled to make sense of everything in her head. Slade had told her that the Titans had killed Jericho and she supposed, in a way, they had contributed to it. They were the ones who got him involved and Dick did go to the church when he had apparently promised he wouldn’t and started fighting Slade. But Jericho chose to step in front of the sword to protect Dick. And none of this would’ve happened in the first place if it wasn’t for her father. She didn’t really know why he killed Garth and then killed Donna’s friends, but he didn’t have to. He didn’t have to become an assassin in the first place.

Already Rose had so many mixed feelings about her father. It started right when she first met him, with him first not wanting anything to do with her only to suddenly change his mind. Then she started getting close to him, well, as close as he would allow. It almost seemed like he didn’t really want a daughter, until of course he learned about the Titans and started his revenge plan. By the time she did end up in the Tower, she was glad to be away from him. Then he started calling her and basically threatened her and her mother. And when she saw how the Titans were keeping secrets and lying, she could almost force herself to believe what Slade had said about them. Now, she knew the truth.

The Titans were wrong to get Jericho involved, there was no doubt about that, but they weren’t responsible for his death. That was all Slade. She couldn’t help him anymore, she wouldn’t. And if there was one thing she had learned throughout this whole thing, is to not keep any secrets. Things would’ve been better if they all knew the truth from the beginning and for their own safety, they needed to know everything she had told her Dad and about the cameras and listening devices she had hidden throughout the apartment.

Once she was standing in front of the Tower though, she knew immediately that something was wrong.

“Oh no.” Rose uttered as she stared at the broken window near the top of the building. She then took off towards the entrance, muttering under her breath, “No, no, no, no.”

The elevator was still working, luckily, though it was a little slower than before. Once the doors opened, she made her way down the hall into the apartment, and felt like she had been punched in the stomach. One of the large windows between the kitchen and the living room was broken into pieces, as though someone had come through it. One of the stools at the kitchen island had fallen over and the walls were filled with bullet holes. A few of the pictures that had been hanging on the walls also either had bullet holes in them, or were on the floor with holes and broken frames.

Rose had a feeling that no one was there, but she started looking through the place anyway. The bedrooms were empty, so was the training room and even the bathrooms. As she was about to approach the infirmary section of the penthouse, she spotted what seemed to a lounge of some kind. She hadn’t seen it before and walked over to it. Like she had assumed, there wasn’t anyone there, but she saw that there was a balcony attached to it. And on the balcony, besides a small table and lounge chairs, was a figure lying on his stomach. She took a few steps forward, but stopped when she recognized who it was.

“Dick?” Rose whispered, as though she was scared to disturb something. Slowly, she walked over, opened the door and got onto the balcony. Getting down on her knees, she pressed a finger to his neck to check is pulse. She expected to flinch due to how cold his skin was, and it was, but not the kind of cold a corpse would have. And she could feel a steady pulse against her finger. Immediately, she turned him over onto his back and saw a bloodied cut above his left eyebrow, a black eye and growing bruises on the left side of his face but that was it. No other injury was visible.

She started tapping his cheek, trying to rouse him. It took a little longer than she wanted, but sure enough, his eyes flittered open and he said, “Rose?”

“You’re alive.” Rose exclaimed happily. As he struggled to sit up, she asked, “How are you alive? What happened?”

“Slade attacked. And I used this.” Dick answered, then pulled down the zipper of the sweater that he was wearing down and revealed a wooden plank that he had grabbed from the training room when Slade showed up, in front of his chest with a bullet sticking out of it. “Best armour I could find at the time.”

“Where are the others?” She then wondered, realizing that she hadn’t seen anyone else. A look of horror suddenly covered his face and he tried to get up, but he quickly fell back down onto his knees when he realized he couldn’t move his left arm and felt a sharp pain in his ribs on the left side.

“Dick!” She shouted when he grunted in pain and crumpled.

“I’m okay.” He tried to assure her, doing his best not to make any other pained noises. That would probably make her only freak out more. Plus, he’d been hurt a lot worse than this before. He could handle it.

“No, you’re not.” She argued, sounding as though she was starting to get angry with him.

“It’s just some bruises.” He told her as he finally got up to his feet.

Standing up with her arms out, ready to catch him if he fell again as she said, “And a concussion and dislocated shoulder from the looks of it.”

“Have to find out the others.” He told her. He then walked over to the door, took a deep breath, braced himself, then slammed his dislocated shoulder into the doorframe, forcing it back into place with a groan and sickening _pop_. He then started making his way into the apartment.

“Slow down.” Rose called out as she went after him. Quickly catching up to him, she asked, “Okay, where are we going?”

“Roof.” He answered. Though she wasn’t happy about it, she followed him down the hall to the stairs and up to the roof.

She wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting to find, but there was nothing there. The place was emptier than it was down in the apartment, and that was only because there was no furniture up on the roof. Dick however, stumbled around as though he was looking for something. She followed somewhat behind him, a little worried that he was going to fall. He was favouring his left side a lot. She wondered if he had originally landed on his left side when he landed on the balcony or something. Maybe when her Dad attacked, he had somehow injured him. But why were they on the roof in the first place? Wait, did he fall off the roof?

“They’re gone.” Dick whispered. He knew that the odds were that they’d be gone, but he had been hoping that he was wrong. When he took another a step, he felt something bump against his foot. Looking down to see what it was, he said, “Concussion grenades.”

“My Dad must’ve taken them.” Rose realized, her guilt worsening at the realization.

“Rose.” Hesitantly, she turned to look at him. Once he was able to see her face, he said, “You were helping him, weren’t you?”

The teenager opened her mouth but no words came out. She couldn’t deny the truth, not anymore. Dick lowered his head as he told her, “I suppose I can’t blame you. He’s your Dad, and it’s your brother I got killed.”

“I didn’t, I never meant, I, I’m sorry.” She apologized, not sure if there was anything else she could say or do anything to make it right.

Dick stared at her for a long moment. Inwardly, he was kicking himself for not realizing it sooner. He had been trained by the world’s greatest detective for crying out loud and he didn’t even think of the possibility that Rose could be working with Slade. Then again, as evil as Slade was, he never thought he was evil enough to apparently cut his own daughter’s eye out, or hunt her down like Dick thought he had done. Though the hunting could’ve been stage, the eye could not. He had meant it when he told her that he couldn’t blame her for her actions really, considering the circumstances and it did seem like she was truly remorseful about it all right now. However, he knew now that she was a better actress than he thought she was and would have to be careful. But if she did want to make it right and wanted a chance to explain, then he would give it to her.

“Come on.” Dick told her, gesturing with his head to the door. Without needing any other prompting, she followed him back inside.

**2018TITANS2018**

Several minutes later, Dick was sitting on one of the infirmary beds as Rose bandaged him up. He didn’t really want her to, didn’t care about whatever injuries he had since he put his shoulder back into place, but Rose for some reason insisted. It confused him a little since Rose was working with Slade before but she did come back instead of going to her Dad. She didn’t have to do that and she seemed to want to explain herself. So he let her clean and bandage the cut on his forehead, then, when she saw how he was still favouring his side, he took off his sweater and shirt and walked her through wrapping his ribs.

As she did that, Rose told him everything. About how her Mom hardly told her anything about her real Dad since he was just a one-night stand that she had. From the sounds of it, her Mom didn’t even really know much about him either. After much prodding though, especially with her healing powers that she kept testing, her Mom finally gave her the name and she went to find him. When she did, at first, Slade Wilson didn’t want anything to do with her but suddenly changed his mind. Immediately, he started training her to fight and invited her to live with him in his mansion. It wasn’t until the news broke that the Titans were back that Slade first mentioned Jericho.

He had told her that they were all psychopaths who had murdered Jericho and that they were going to get payback. Rose wasn’t sure how she felt about that, especially since her Dad didn’t give her any details. After all, she had never met Jericho, but he was her brother. And though Slade sure wasn’t the ideal father, was actually more of a trainer than a father, she wanted to help him, as insane as it sounded. So she agreed to help. Then he told her that in order to get the Titans, specifically Dick, to let her in, he was going to cut out her eye. Rose tried to back out, especially when she realized that her powers wouldn’t fix it but Slade drugged her so she couldn’t fight back. And when the drug was out of her system, she ran. That was the night that Dick found her.

“So, that’s how I ended up here.” Rose explained, finishing the wrapping. He had been silent the entire time as she helped clean him up and explained everything that had happened between her and Slade, and it was starting to unnerve her.

“I’m sorry.” He finally said, causing Rose’s head to snap up and stare at him in shock.

“What?”

“If I didn’t get Jericho killed, Slade never would’ve done that to you.” Dick told her. “You’re a kid. You shouldn’t have to had to deal with any of that, with any of this.”

“My Dad didn’t have to get me involved either. He also didn’t have to become an assassin.” Rose pointed out, then quickly added before he could protest, “Besides, Donna, Dawn and Hank were a part of it too.”

Dick didn’t really have any argument for that. He could remind her that he was the one who found out about Jericho. That he was the one who came up with the idea to try to get close to him to get information about Slade, but when he did that, he made it very clear that unless they all agreed, he wasn’t going to do anything. From the beginning he felt guilty and uneasy at using an innocent boy like they did, but Dawn, Hank and Donna had practically no objections. The only condition was to do everything they could to keep him from getting in the crossfire. So, Rose was right about Donna, Dawn and Hank being involved, but at the end of the day, he was the one who went to the church when he promised he wouldn’t. If he had stayed away, then maybe Jericho would still be alive.

“Any chance you know where Slade may have taken them?” Dick wondered, changing the focus onto something that he could do instead to fix the problems that he caused. He didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity right now, not when his friends were on the line.

Rose thought about it for a minute when the sound of footsteps had the two of them looking towards the door that led to the hallway. Standing there, naked, with a dog by his side was the boy who had saved Jason. Looking at them, he asked, “What’s going on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea of Dick using a wooden board as protection from getting shot from the movie Teen Titans The Judas Contract. So if you guys think that it’s not believable, take it up with the writers of that movie because they did it first lol. Hope you guys liked this chapter! See you next time!


	3. Catastrophe

As Donna slowly came to, she quickly realized that something was wrong. She wasn’t lying on her bed, wasn’t even lying on a mattress. It felt like a hard, smooth, cold floor. It also didn’t feel like she had a blanket or pillow. Right after realizing that, her head started pounding, as though it was waiting until she was waking up to start hurting. She hated that. It was bad enough that she wanted to go back to sleep. However, all of her training and instincts told her that she had to wake up, had to find out what was going on.

“Ugh.” Donna groaned as she opened her eyes. She reached up to rub her head, hoping to soothe the headache.

“Donna? You up?” She heard Kory ask, though she didn’t look over in her direction. Her focus at the moment was on trying to remember what happened and how to soothe her headache so she could think clearly.

“Yeah.” Donna answered as she sat up. Looking around, she found she was in a small glittle area blocked with three glass walls, at least they looked like glass, but the wall behind her looked like it was made of some metal. Beside her, she saw Kory in her own little cell, and there was something strange around her neck, like a thick collar. On the other side, she saw Dawn, and then Hank in the cell beside the blonde. Across from her, she saw Gar with Rachel in the cell on his right and Jason on his left. Gar and Rachel also had the same kind of collar on as Kory did, and every single one of them was awake. She brought a hand to her own neck and found that she had a collar one too. It only took her a few seconds to realize what they were.

“Where are we?” She asked as she dropped her hand.

“I don’t know. Some kind of dungeon.” Dawn answered.

It was at that moment that the memories finally started coming back. Dick telling them that he lied about Jericho’s death, followed by finally revealing the truth. Fighting with him, yelling at him, Hank actually punching him in the face. Taking a minute to try and calm down. A minute that was interrupted by a loud shatter and gunshots. Running for safety and ending up on the roof with everyone else as they were cornered by Deathstroke. Dick jumping in front of Jason, taking a bullet to the chest before falling off the roof. She didn’t even have to time to see where Dick landed, if by some miracle he was alive though he most likely wasn’t. How could someone survive that? Oh G*d. He was dead. Dick was dead.

“Someone’s coming.” Rachel warned them, pulling Donna out of her reverie.

Everyone instinctively tensed up at that and looked to where the sound of footsteps were coming from and saw a door in the middle of the wall. Within seconds, the door opened and a figure wearing bulky, orange and black, armour entered the room. The only part of his outfit that was missing was missing was his helmet, letting everyone get a clear look of his face. He had grey-white hair, a black eyepatch over his right eye, though his left eye was just as dark as the eyepatch. Jason, and everyone except for Donna, Dawn and Hank were a little thrown by how old he seemed to be. Sure, they knew his age and had a picture of him, but seeing him in person was different. It was hard to believe that this old man was such a dangerous foe.

“Good to see you are all awake. Took you long enough.” Slade said, a slightly smirk on his face as he walked into the room.

“You!” Rachel shouted and tried to charge at him, but then dropped to her knees, her hands going up to her neck as she screamed.

“Rachel!” Everyone but Slade cried out. He simply looked over at her and made a _tsk_ kind of noise.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He told her. After a few seconds, Rachel relaxed a little and said, “What,”

“It’s the collars. They keep you from using your powers.” Donna informed them, causing everyone to look over at her. “I’ve seen them before.”

“I added a little something extra to them, to encourage you all not to waste your time.” Slade added to her explanation.

Glaring over at him, Rachel hissed, “You killed Dick.”

“If it makes you feel better, I was intending to kill the new Robin. Not my fault he got in the way.” The assassin responded, walking along the path between the cells, shooting a look over at Jason who stiffened at his words.

“Yet it was our fault Jericho stepped in front of Dick?” Hank chimed him and Slade turned his head to glare at the vigilante.

“It was your fault that you got him involved in the first place!” He shouted out. Apparently, he hadn’t meant to lose his temper though because he visibly calmed himself and said, “If you hadn’t, he would still be here.”

Donna looked over at Dawn and Hank, finding that they were looking at her too, and from the looks on their faces, she knew that they were all thinking the same thing. Slade was right. They got Jericho involved and they shouldn’t have. If they hadn’t, he would still be alive. And knowing this, they were practically forced to accept that it wasn’t all Dick’s fault. Deep down they already knew it, had always known it, but they refused to accept it or even really think about it. However, they couldn’t do that now, not anymore.

“I will admit, that while I didn’t want to kill Grayson that fast and soon, I am glad that at least he died knowing that he was hated by more than just me.” Slade then remarked with an actual tiny bit of regret in his otherwise pleased tone of voice, tilting his head in thought.

“We don’t hate him.” Dawn immediately objected.

“No? That’s not the impression I got when I heard you all fighting with him.” Slade replied. Seeing the confused expressions on all of their faces, he revealed, “You should have listened to him when he said that I was inside the Tower. Though not physically, I was in your home for a lot longer than you know.”

“What?” Donna responded in shock. When Dick had come back after being AWOL for hours with a gun, he looked so out of it, like he wasn’t thinking clearly. And then he told them all the truth about how Jericho died that what he had said early was totally forgotten.

“Rose.” Jason said, being the first one to figure it out. Everyone immediately groaned, either outwardly or inwardly and closed their eyes. How on earth did none of them even consider that?

Quickly processing that and what was going on right now, Jason asked, “If she is your partner in crime, then where is she?”

“If I were you, I’d be more worried about yourselves, than my daughter.” Slade told Batman’s latest partner, coming to stand in front of Jason’s cell. He stared at him for a few seconds before he continued, “I’d also get some rest. Soon, we will begin.”

“Begin what?” Gar wondered, trying not to let his fear known. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded though.

Slade smirked again, a more terrifying and sinister one and answered, “You’ll find out.”

With that, he walked out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him. Hank looked over at Dawn, who was staring at the ground, thinking over everything that Slade had said. Gar looked back and forth from Jason and Rachel, the former having an incredibly guilt and stunned expression on his face, as though he just processed everything that happened while the latter just looked lost. Kory turned her focus to the cell, trying to find a way out and Donna just looked down at the ground like Dawn was.

“Do you really think Dick really thought we hated him?” Gar asked, not bothering to hide his fear this time.

“I, I don’t know.” Rachel said. Was it really only a few hours ago that she was fighting with Gar over her anger at Dick for his lies? What did she even really say to Dick? She couldn’t remember right now, but she was sure it would come back and haunt her, because there wasn’t anything she could do about it. It was too late to make it right.

“Everything we said, how we acted, he, he must’ve,” Donna stammered, sounding like she was struggling to breath.

“Donna?” Kory worriedly called out. She was struggling to truly process that Dick was gone as well, she was sure that everyone was, but Donna seemed like she was about to completely fall apart.

Looking up with tears in her eyes, Donna whispered, “He’s dead.”

Suddenly, she was sobbing and couldn’t stop. It just hit her now that Dick was dead. He had been shot in the chest, without any protection, and fell off the roof. He fell, just like his parents did. He was dead, died right after they had been fighting with him. He died with their anger-filled, hurtful words in his ears and there was nothing they could do to fix it. One of her best friends since childhood, the man who was basically her little brother was dead, and it was all her fault.


	4. The First Rescue

Dick was mentally kicking himself for not even thinking about Conner. In his defense, the boy had been unconscious so he hadn’t been needing Dick’s attention and he was gone for most of the day anyways. Then Slade showed up. He had his hands a little full. As bad as he felt about forgetting about Conner though, it might have been a good thing. It kept the boy off of Slade’s radar.

After Conner came into the room with the dog, Dick quickly gave him a blanket to cover himself and he tried to explain what happened. He then asked Conner who he was and was beyond stunned to learn that he was actually a clone of Superman and Lex Luthor, created by a lab called Cadmus and had escaped with a girl, Eve’s, help. Apparently she was his ‘mother’ or something. And when Conner told him about Krypto, a dog with superpowers, Dick felt like his head was about to explode. However, there was no time for that. So he quickly found some clothes for Conner and told him to get changed.

“Clothes feel a little weird.” Conner stated as he came into the living room where Rose and Dick were waiting, looking down at the outfit he was now wearing.

“Well, it’s better when they actually fit.” Dick replied, seeing the pants bunched up at the ankles and how tight the shirt was. “We’ll get you some of those soon.”

“Okay.” Conner said with a smile, looking a little too excited for that than normal people would be. Maybe he was just easily excitable. It was actually a little endearing. Rose however, quickly turned the focus back to the matters at hand.

“So what do we do now?”

For a minute, Dick didn’t say anything. He had been trying to think of a plan pretty much ever since he woke up, but it wasn’t complete yet. They couldn’t stay here, so getting to a different, safe, place was the first thing they had to do. After that, he would have to find out where Slade took the others and rescue them. That was going to be difficult as he had no idea where Slade might be and if he had a place prepared to hold his superpowered friends, security was going to be tight. But, if Rose, and maybe Conner, were willing to help, then maybe they could rescue them.

“We can’t stay here, it’s not safe.” Dick spoke up.

“Considering that my Dad thinks you’re dead and doesn’t know about him,” Rose gestured to Conner before continuing, “I don’t think he’ll be coming back here.”

“Maybe not, but what about you? Is he going to start looking for you?” Dick questioned, staring at her intently, looking for any sign of her honesty, or deceit. Rose however, looked surprised at his question, as though the thought of her Dad trying to find her had never entered her brain.

“I don’t know. He hasn’t tried to contact me at all, so I don’t think so.” She answered after thinking it over.

Dick then held out his hand and said, “Give me your phone.”

Eyeing him suspiciously, she pulled out her cell phone and handed it to him. He then walked over to the kitchen counter, laid it down, took a frying pan and smashed it down on the device as hard as he could.

“Hey!” Rose cried out in shock and anger.

“Now he can’t contact or track you.” Dick explained, turning back to Rose and Conner. As he walked back over to them, he added, “There’s another place we can go where we’ll be safe. Once we’re there, we can start looking for Slade and the others.”

Dick then looked at Rose, waiting for her response specifically. He still wasn’t fully sure if he trusted her or not, but he was leaning towards letting her help. That didn’t mean he was going to blindly trust her. Not after learning that she had been working with Slade. There was still a chance that she was working with him and he wasn’t going to risk falling into that trap.

“Sounds good.” Rose said, completely on board for rescuing the Titans. A small bit of anger remained at them for their lies and involvement in her brother’s death, but they didn’t deserve what her father was going to do to them.

“Who’s Slade?” Conner asked, reminding the other two that he had no idea what exactly was going on.

“An evil assassin who kidnapped our friends.” Dick answered, knowing they didn’t really have time to get into everything right now. He’d explain more on the way to a safehouse that he knew Bruce had here in the city.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Conner stated.

“No, it’s not. So we need to pack what we need and go, now.” Dick told them. The other two made no argument to that.

**2018TITANS2018**

Less than an hour later, Dick led them into a large, two-story house on the outskirts of the city. This house had been there before they got the Tower but the difference was that this house was Bruce’s. When he, Donna, Garth, Hank and Dawn started the Titans, Bruce offered them this house that he had for whenever he had to stay in San Francisco but they all wanted their own space, especially Dick. Now though, it was the best option in the city. Hotels weren’t very secure and as this place was owned by Batman, it had a lot of technology and defenses that they needed.

“This place is cool.” Conner said, amazement in his eyes as he took the place in.

“Why don’t you and Krypto explore a little?” Dick suggested, thinking that he would get more done if there was no one in the way. “Just try not to break anything.”

“Okay.” He responded happily, then walked out of the room to the hall. Dick then looked over Rose, wondering if he should try to come up with something to distract her as well.

Rose seemed to know why he was hesitating and staring at her, and said, “I know that you have no reason to trust me, but I want to help.”

The two stared at each other for what felt like the 100th time in the last few hours. Rose had noticed Dick constantly looking over at her ever since she found him on the balcony and while she understood it, it was starting to get annoying. She knew it was because he was trying to decide if he should trust her or not and she was doing her best to show him that she really wanted to help and it was a little frustrating that he didn’t seem to see that. Again, she understood why he was reluctant. It didn’t make it that easier though. Honestly, it was starting to feel like he was about to tell her to get lost or something because he wasn’t going to take the chance that she was still working with her Dad.

“Can you tell me anything about Slade’s properties?” Dick questioned, surprising her.

“Um,” Rose paused, needing a minute to remember if Slade had told her about his other houses and properties, when she suddenly recalled something. “There was this warehouse that I found out about when I was using his computer one time.”

“He let you use his computer?” Dick asked with his brow furrowed in surprise and suspicion.

“He wasn’t there when I did it. Got pretty mad when he saw me on it. He kept it off and locked after that.” Rose explained.

Dick nodded and asked, “This warehouse, where is it?”

**2018TITANS2018**

The warehouse turned out to be miles outside of the city and since it was already morning at that point, Dick decided to wait until the sun went back down before they went to check it out. They used that time for Conner, having decided he wanted to help, to start some training and to do as much research as they could into the warehouse so they had an idea of what they were walking into. However, they didn’t have to worry about getting out there. Bruce always kept at least one vehicle in all of his safehouses as a precaution and this house had two.

When the day was finally over and they all got to the warehouse that Rose had mentioned, Dick wondered if they were in the right place. The place looked completely abandoned. Slade would need a strong place with a lot of power to hold the heroes he took hostage and this definitely didn’t look capable of that. Then, he noticed the generator near the back of the building that was running.

“Conner?” The clone looked over at him and Dick asked, “Are you able to look through walls?”

“I can try.” Conner replied before he moved his focus to the warehouse. His tone was fairly confident, but after only a few seconds, he turned back to Dick with a confused and almost shameful expression as he said, “I um, I don’t know how to,”

“It’s okay.” Dick quickly assured him. Though they did have a few hours to test what all Conner could do, they didn’t get that far. There was still so much they didn’t know.

Examining the warehouse again with binoculars, Dick observed, “There’s a security lock on the door.”

“I don’t know the codes.” Rose quickly informed him.

Dick didn’t look that disappointed or anything, like she had expected. Instead, he smirked and said, “I can take care of that.”

Double checking to make sure that there were no traps or guards around, he then pulled down his ski mask to cover his face and walked over to the door. The other two did the same and followed him, Krypto right on Conner’s heels. Dick was a little nervous that the dog would be a distraction and would draw attention, but he was actually very good at following orders. Once there, Rose watched him pull something from his pocket, plugged it into the keypad and started fiddling with it. She wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, but within seconds, she saw a light on the pad turn green and heard the door unlock.

“Got it.” Dick told the others. He then reached for the door, but Conner asked, “What about guards?”

“Slade doesn’t really work with others.” Dick responded. Rose nodded in agreement, knowing personally how her father practically always worked alone, unless he needed truly needed a partner.

Opening the door, Dick entered with the other two and the dog following. He somewhat figured that inside, he would find a few cells where his friends would be, maybe some lockers for Slade’s weapons and armour, and some computers, but aside from the computers, there was none of that. The place was completely empty. Or nearly. There were a few boxes and crates along the walls, but that was pretty much it.

“I don’t see anyone.” Rose said, looking back at Dick. Conner chimed in by saying, “I don’t either.”

Dick was about to let out a string of curses, frustration, fear and disappointment filling his stomach, when the beam from his flashlight came to something in the far corner of the building. It looked like a large, cylinder or something, and it was plugged into the wall.

“What’s that?” Dick asked, though he didn’t expect an answer and walked over to it. As he got there, he realized it was a cryotube. He had seen a few of them before during his vigilante career so he knew what they looked like and how they worked. Looking down, he saw a small window near the top of the strange container, letting him see what was inside. Or more accurately, who was inside, and he felt his heart stop.

“Jericho?” The name was out of Dick’s mouth before he could stop it. “Oh my G*d.”

“I thought he was dead.” Rose murmured in shock, staring at her brother’s face for the very first time in her life.

“Who’s Jericho?” Conner wondered as he walked over to them. Rose shot him an annoyed glare before pointing at the body in the cryotube. He looked down, only now apparently noticing that there was a body in there. He then looked back up at then and asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

Dick didn’t respond to that. He was still struggling to understand what happened, how this all happened. Due to his injuries, the concussion grenade and blows to the head he got during that fight with Slade five years ago, his memories were a little fuzzy of that night. And because the Titans broke up right after, he had no idea what happened with Slade or Jericho’s body. But, why would Slade put his body in a cryotube if he was dead. Then he noticed the younger man’s eyes. They were open, and were completely white. He had seen that before, when Jericho used his powers, when he jumped into someone’s body. Powers that he got from Slade.

“Come on, help me move him.” Dick ordered, moving to the front end of the cryotube and got ready to lift it. Rose however, had some reservations about this.

“But,”

“I think I can help him.” He quickly cut her off. She hesitated for a minute, wondering if there really was a way to help Jericho, then nodded and moved to help.

“I got it.” Conner told them, coming to stand at the middle of the cryotube and easily picked it up.

“Okay, just be careful.” Dick responded. He helped Conner readjust his hold on the container carrying his friend’s body, then said, “There. Let’s get out of here.”


	5. Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I’m back! Chapter title is taken from the song Breathe by Taylor Swift which is the song I was listening to when I was writing Donna’s paragraph. Hope you guys like this chapter!

Jason watched in silence as Hank and Dawn tried to find a way to open the cell doors. Everyone else was quietly watching too, except for Donna. She didn’t seem to really be aware of anything right now, too lost in her own thoughts. She had been like that ever since her tears ran dry. He knew that she was probably thinking about Dick. He was as well, in the back of his mind anyways. So was everyone else, but they had more pressing matters to deal with right now than losing themselves in grief over the death of their friend. Maybe that was a little heartless, but it was the truth.

At first, once they had all relatively calmed down, they all examined their cells and spouted off ideas of how to escape, with the exception of Donna. Slowly, one by one, they all stopped and sat back down, realizing that there wasn’t any way they could get out from the inside of their prisons. Even if they had, the cameras that they quickly noticed in the corners of each cell and by the main door would immediately notify Slade that they had escaped. And they also had no idea how to get the collars off of Rachel, Gar, Kory and Donna. Slade would easily take them down again. Only Hank and Dawn hadn’t given up yet.

“Hank.” Dawn called out, trying to calm him when he loudly swore and slammed his fist into the wall in frustration. However he turned around, his eyes blazing with rage as he yelled, “This is pointless! There’s no way out of here.”

“We can’t just sit here.” Rachel responded, not liking Hank’s tone. It sounded like he was planning on giving up.

“Even if we were able to figure out a way out of these cells, those cameras up there,” Hank told her, pointing up at the camera in the corner of the room, “would let Slade know about it and he’d stop us.”

“You think he’s even watching?” Gar wondered, also looking up at the security camera. “We’ve been trying to figure out how to get free for a while and he hasn’t come by yet.”

“Might just be because he knows we aren’t getting anywhere close to getting out.” Dawn explained. True, there was a chance that the cameras could be there only to discourage them from doing anything but she knew that Slade was too thorough to put fake cameras in the room. He would want to make absolutely sure that they wouldn’t get out and that he could keep an eye on them, and staying away while they tried to find out told her that they were nowhere close to figuring out how to get free. Unless of course he wasn’t on the property anymore. Maybe he went for a coffee break of something.

Kory, who had been silently watching them for the last several minutes, looked over at Donna. The brunette, after she stopped crying, sat quietly in the corner of her cell. She didn’t respond to anything that was going on and no one tried to disturb her. If her eyes weren’t open, Kory would’ve thought that she was asleep. Growing worried, the alien asked, “Donna? You okay?”

“Did I ever tell you guys how Dick and I met?” Donna suddenly asked, surprising everyone. Everyone else looked at each other, wondering where this was coming from, but when they realized that none of them, not even Hank and Dawn, had heard how Dick and Donna met, shook their heads.

“No, you didn’t.” Dawn answered as she turned her head to face Donna.

“I was on Themyscira. That’s usually where I stayed when I was growing up. When Wonder Woman came back after being in the States for a little while on a mission or something, she was upset. After much prodding, I found out that Batman, the most antisocial hero in the universe, got a partner. A young boy, apparently younger than me.” Donna informed them.

“Robin.” Jason quickly realized.

“Yeah.” Donna confirmed, then continued, “Wonder Woman and the other members of the Justice League were not happy about it. They didn’t want any kids involved in what they did. Said it was too dangerous. I had begged and begged Wonder Woman to be out in the field but she refused. And so when Batman got a kid as a sidekick, I begged even more.”

“When I first met Dick, it was outside of the costume, at a fundraiser that Bruce and my Mom were a part of. We were both the only kids, so we hung out a bit. Actually we left the party to explore the museum where the fundraiser was taking place. We almost took down a skeleton of a shark.” Donna smiled and nearly chuckled at the memory. If she looked over at the others, she would’ve seen that they were smiling too.

“We had so much fun that we didn’t even notice the party ended and Bruce and my Mom was looking for us. Nearly gave them a heart attack. A week later, Wonder Woman brought me to Gotham for a mission where I officially met Batman and Robin.”

“Did you know that Robin was Dick?” Hank questioned. From what he understood, Dick and Bruce knew pretty much all of the world’s superheroes’ identities, but so many of the other heroes didn’t.

“Not at first, but Dick purposely let it slip, much to Batman’s annoyance. He doesn’t like people knowing their identities.” Donna responded, being careful to never say Batman’s name. They had no idea if Slade was watching them and was not going to risk telling him that Bruce Wayne was Batman.

“No he doesn’t.” Jason agreed, knowing how much Bruce valued secrecy.

“After that, Wonder Woman would bring me along and let me hang out with Dick. There were no kids on the island so, we got close pretty quick. But every time we left, I kept asking to go out into the field like he was. Even though he was younger than me, was human with no powers, no super-strength or anything like that, he fought like an experienced fighter, like he knew exactly what he was doing. Like he was invincible.” Donna said, starting to sound like she was about to start crying again.

“Yeah.” Rachel murmured, knowing exactly what Wonder Girl meant. She had seen him fight, had seen how he moved. It was like he was a super-human.

“You know, I started to think that maybe he was. Until I learned he wasn’t.” Donna said, her voice getting quieter with every word that left her mouth.

“What are you talking about?” Hank asked, though he had a feeling he already knew what she was getting at.

“The one time I was actually scared that he was going to die.” Donna answered as she finally looked over at them. Seeing the stunned and confused expressions on their faces, she explained, “Wonder Woman and I were in Paris at the time, and when she came back to the apartment that night, I could see on her face that something was wrong. She told me that we had to go to Gotham, to help Batman. That, never happened. Batman hates other heroes in his city, so I knew something big was up, and that’s when she told that a patrol he and Dick were on the night before went bad.”

“How bad?” Jason wondered. Throughout his time as being Batman’s partner, before he joined the Titans, Bruce didn’t often talk about Dick or their partnership. And he definitely didn’t mention anything bad happening. It made Dick sound as the perfect partner, the perfect Robin, even though from the words that Bruce used sometimes and the way he pushed when they trained that it did happen.

“A criminal, Two-Face had broken out of Arkham, along with several others. Batman and Dick got separated, and Dick ended up against Two-Face and his goons by himself. Two-Face beat him nearly to death with a baseball bat.” Donna revealed, sounding as though the memory was causing her physical pain.

“What?” Gar whispered in shock. He couldn’t imagine something like that happening to Dick, who always seemed to easily kick everyone’s a**.

“He had a fractured skull, massive concussion, broke his left hand and dislocated that shoulder, broke three fingers, broke his left leg in two places, broken jaw, nine broken ribs, punctured lung and kidney. He was in a coma for three weeks. I spent several days by his side, waiting for him to wake up while Wonder Woman tried to help Batman catch Two-Face, his goons, and the other criminals that had escaped.” Donna informed them, feeling her eyes get wet with tears again as she remembered those days when she sat beside Dick’s unconscious form.

Everyone was silent at that. They all knew that Dick started his career as Robin at a young age. They also knew being a vigilante and fighting crime was extremely dangerous, yet they never put together that Dick would’ve gotten hurt. Or at least, that badly. It just, didn’t seem possible. He was one of the best fighters they had ever seen. And to Rachel and Gar, he was their protector. It was hard to think of him as a child. A child that was nearly killed with a baseball bat.

“I have no memory of that happening.” Dawn said, looking back over at Donna.

“You didn’t know him then. Dick was only 13 when that happened.” Donna revealed, causing everyone to drop their jaws in horror at the thought of a 13-year-old being beaten nearly to death.

“And Batman let him go back out after that?” Hank nearly shouted, after cursing of course.

“Actually no.” Donna surprised them, then added, “While Dick was recovering, after he woke up, Batman told him that he wasn’t allowed to go out as Robin anymore, that his life as a vigilante was over, that it was too dangerous.”

“So what happened?” Jason asked, needing details. Since Bruce never really talked about Dick, though it was clear to him that the old man missed his first partner, he never heard stories about him or his life as Robin.

“Dick waited until he had recovered enough, then ran away. He was gone for months. He had found that people were recruiting kids to become assassins. He joined them to find out how it worked and anonymously slipped the information to Batman and together they shut the whole thing down. It became quite clear that Dick wasn’t going to stop going out and helping people and put away criminals. So, Batman agreed to let him become Robin again, though he definitely upped his training, and was pretty overprotective of him after that.” Wonder Girl informed them.

“I bet he was.” Jason commented. Though Bruce definitely sucked at showing his emotions and his teaching methods probably wasn’t the best, he knew that despite whatever issues Bruce and Dick had, the billionaire cared about his adoptive son.

“I can’t believe that. It almost, doesn’t seem possible.” Dawn mumbled, her voice just barely being audible. The thought of Dick, as a child, being beaten nearly to death and still wanting to go out and save people shouldn’t have been that surprising, but other kids would be so freaked out that they would probably not want to leave the house, if they even recovered.

“It’s because he got up. He always got up.” Donna responded before brought her knees up to her face and lowered her head so her forehead rested on them.

Realizing that she, along with the others, were probably about to start crying again, Hank said, “Donna,”

“It’s all my fault.” She suddenly cut him off. It took a few seconds for Hank and the others to realize what she said but when they did, Hank asked, “What?”

“All of this, it’s all my fault.” Donna told him though didn’t give any reason.

“How is it your fault?” Kory questioned, not understanding what her friend was talking about. From what she heard about the entire situation, there was nothing that pointed to Donna being at fault for what was happening.

“Because five years ago, I lied. I didn’t have to go to Themyscria. I asked Jillian to take me back so I wouldn’t have to deal with my feelings for Garth. I told Dick that I had to leave, though I didn’t. And when Garth came to the airport to stop me, he got shot because he jumped in front of the bullet to save Jillian. If I hadn’t lied, if I didn’t leave the Tower, Garth would never have been shot. We probably wouldn’t have gone after Slade, and none of this would’ve happened. Garth would still be alive. Dick would still be alive.” Donna revealed, her voice starting to crack as she finished.

Donna could tell by the silence that her words had shocked them and that wasn’t surprising. She hadn’t told anyone this, not even Diana. Deep, deep down she knew all along that Jericho and Garth’s deaths were her fault, she just couldn’t admit it. It was so much easier to blame Slade and Dick. She knew though that she was being unfair. That was why she told Dick that her place was always open if he needed a place to crash. And because she knew that the anger would eventually fade and when it did, she wanted to see her best friend, her little brother. And yet, when Dick finally came clean, to all of them, when she had her chance to do the same, she turned on him. Now, he was dead. Shot through the heart just like Garth and there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Three people dead, two of them people she loved, and all because of her.

The sound of the door opening immediately had everyone pulling themselves together, including Donna, and the looked over to see who was coming. There was a faint hope that it was someone who would rescue them, even though they knew that was extremely unlikely. No one knew they were gone, no one was missing them. It was most definitely going to be Slade, and they were right.

“Well aren’t you all a depressing bunch.” Slade commented as he walked down the small aisle created by the cells. When all he received was silence and angry glares, he said, “And a silent one at that. Nothing to say?”

“There’s nothing we can say that would do anything Slade. Why bother?” Dawn replied.

“Well, then that might make this a lot easier.” He commented, then thought for a moment before he added, “Though a little less fun.”

Everyone, even Donna, watched him slowly stalk up and down the room. After he did that at least three times, he came to a stop in front of Rachel’s cell. “I think I’ll begin with you.”

“Leave her alone.” Hank commanded with a harsh tone as he stood up and walked over to the door of his cell, causing Slade to look at him. “Leave her, Gar, Jason and Kory alone. They had nothing to do with what happened to Jericho.”

“Don’t you know by now that you don’t take out your vengeance on the person who wronged you?” Slade asked, taking a step closer to Hank’s cell. “You take it out on the people that person cares about.”

Turning back to look at Rachel and ignoring Jericho’s protests in his head, Slade whispered, “And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the incident with Two-Face and Dick and the aftermath is taken from the comic Robin: Year One, written by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beaty, illustrated by Javier Pulido and Marcos Martin. I changed it a little because I forgot some stuff that happened, but the overall story is the same. It’s a good comic, you guys should check it out. Hope you guys liked this chapter! See you all next time!


	6. How You Remind Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is taken from the song How You Remind Me by Nickelback. This chapter’s a bit on the short side, but next one will be longer. Hope you guys like this chapter!

Once they got far enough away from the warehouse, Dick checked over the cryotube for trackers. He knew that Slade would be paranoid to have at least one, just in case. He didn’t want to lead the assassin to them or where they were hiding. Taking off the three trackers he found, he placed them on a random car to keep Slade of their trail, he brought Jericho and the other kids back to the house. He then called Bruce, asking him to bring Leslie Thompkins to the house. After that, he set up the infirmary room in the house that was in every one of Bruce’s safe houses and waited for them to show up.

Conner and Rose waited with him for a little while, but Conner quickly got distracted by the TV and sat down to watch with Krypto right beside him. Rose however looked anxious. Dick wondered what was going on through her head but wasn’t sure if he should ask. He hoped that she was just worried about her brother or was just trying to understand how Jericho was still alive and why Slade said otherwise, but a small part of him couldn’t help but think that she was waiting for something. Like she was about to turn on him or something like that. Considering how she reacted though when they found Jericho, he doubted it was that. He hoped it wasn’t.

Finally, after about three hours of waiting, the front door opened and Bruce and Leslie walked inside.

“He’s over here.” Dick said as he started to lead them to the room where he had put the cryotube with Jericho’s body. He was only able to take about two steps though before Bruce put a hand on his shoulder, luckily his good one, and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” Dick answered, shrugging off Bruce’s hand off and led them to the room where Jericho was. Rose also trailed along a few feet behind the doctor and billionaire.

They followed right behind him as he brought them to the infirmary room. When they saw the cryotube lying on a table, Leslie and Bruce immediately rushed over to see what they were dealing with as Dick asked, “Can you help him?”

“I can try.” Leslie said after examining her patient as best she could through the glass of the cryotube. Dick was smart to leave him in there until she arrived. If he had pulled him out without the proper supplies and didn’t immediately start treating him, the injured young man would for sure die within minutes. Looking over all the equipment and supplies that Dick had got out, she asked, “Did you get everything ready?”

“Yup.” The younger vigilante quickly answered.

“Alright, let’s get to work.”

“You checked the cryotube over for any tracking devices, right?” Bruce questioned before they pulled Jericho out. He did not want Leslie to start a complicated surgery if there was a chance Slade could attack them.

“Yes I did. And I got rid of them before we got here.” Dick assured him.

“Good.” Bruce replied with a nod, then helped Dick get Jericho out of the cryotube and on to the nearby bed.

Leslie, after making a few comments about how they bring him to a hospital and stuff like that, things she had been saying as far as Dick could remember, got to right work. Dick and Bruce did their best to help, but they were not trained professionals, so they mostly stayed out of the way and watched. It took several hours which Dick supposed made sense. It was a very bad wound and Leslie was working on it alone pretty much, but he wished it would go faster. Five years of thinking that Jericho was dead and now they had a chance to save him. It almost didn’t seem real, yet it was.

As he watched Leslie take care of Jericho, Dick could feel Bruce’s eyes constantly drift over to him. Honestly, he was a little surprised that the older man wasn’t demanding an explanation. When he called Bruce, he gave him the bare minimum of the information, wanting Leslie to get here as soon as possible. He didn’t have time to tell him everything that happened as it was a very long story. Sooner or later though, Dick knew that Bruce would ask and he would have to answer. That was not a conversation he was looking forward to having.

Glancing over at Rose, Dick saw that she was standing in the doorway, watching worriedly. She had been pretty quiet ever since they found Jericho and though he didn’t know for sure what was going on in her mind, the expressions on her face, especially in her eyes, were pretty telling. If he was reading it right, she was nervous, worried and excited. He could understand that. He then started wondering where Conner and Krypto were, but not hearing anything beside the TV which was still on, he assumed they were still well entertained for now and he turned his attention back to Leslie who was finally finishing up.

“Done.” Leslie announced as she finished bandaging the stitched wound.

“Is he going to be okay?” Dick asked worriedly, coming over to stand by Leslie and look over Jericho himself. Rose also finally moved from her spot to see for herself if he was indeed alright.

“Well, his vitals are starting to stabilizing, so I think so, but we won’t know for sure until he’s, back in his body.” The doctor answered.

“We have to find Slade first.” Dick responded. From what he could remember, Jericho had to have eye contact with the person whose body he was going to jump into. However, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to come back into his own body that he had to make eye contact again. Even if he could, if Jericho didn’t even know that it was safe to go back into his own body. They had to find Slade and let him know, as well as to rescue the others.

“Then what? Drag him over here to put Jericho back in his body?” Rose questioned somewhat sarcastically. She wanted her brother back almost just as badly as Dick, wanted a chance to actually get to know the sibling that she thought was dead, but the Titans leader had to be realistic.

“We’ll figure it out.” Dick replied as he looked over at her. Bruce however, soon pulled his attention to him when he said, “Yes we will, but first Leslie needs to check you over.”

“No Bruce, I’m fine.” The police detective told him. However, Bruce gave him a disbelieving look and shook his head.

“Dick.” He turned his attention to Leslie and saw her pointing at one of the chairs and ordered, “Sit down, and let me examine you.”

Knowing nothing good came from disobeying Leslie, he sat down and let her check him over. It was extremely annoying but he was more annoyed with how Bruce was watching him. Though his face was well masked from emotion, Dick could easily see that he was worried, especially when the doctor took off the wrapping around his ribs, exposing the massive bruises. Even Rose was glancing over at him worriedly from her spot by Jericho’s side where she had been since Leslie finished patching him up. After about 20 minutes, Leslie rewrapped Dick’s ribs and started packing up her stuff.

“Well?” Bruce asked the second he saw Leslie start packing up her medical bag.

Leslie glanced at the business man, then back at Dick as she answered, “Nothing’s broken, luckily, but you’ve bruised your ribs pretty good, you got a concussion and you should be wearing a sling to help your shoulder, but I highly doubt that you’re going to do that.”

“Still got work to do.” Dick told her as he grabbed his shirt and slipped it back on, doing his best not to wince in pain as his shoulder and ribs throbbed in protest of his moving.

“Dick,” Bruce started as Dick stood up, but his adopted son quickly cut him off.

“I’ve got to find where Slade took my friends, and rescue them, before he kills them.”

“I know. I have something for you that I thought would help.” Bruce told him. Dick raised his eyebrows but followed Bruce out of the room towards the living room.

In the living room, Bruce grabbed a metal suitcase that was sitting by the door. Dick had seen him bring it into the house but didn’t give it any thought as his focus was on getting Leslie to Jericho. Bruce then brought the suitcase into the connected dining room, set it on the table, then stepped to the side, clearly telling Dick to it. Dick went over to it and realized it was the exact same kind of case he used to hold his Robin suit. Pressing his thumbs on the scanners, he heard a click, then opened it. Inside was a kevlar suit, completely black except for a blue symbol across the front and an assortment of weapons fastened to the lid of the case. Almost mesmerized by it, Jason’s words from weeks ago replayed in his head.

_“If I’m Robin, who are you?”_

“Stu and Lily made it.” Bruce informed him, not that he needed to. There was only one person who made Bruce’s and Dick’s suits.

Running his finger over the wing of the blue symbol on the front of the suit, Dick said, “It’s perfect. But how did you know?”

“You burnt your Robin uniform, then you restarted the Titans. I knew eventually you’d need it.” Bruce explained. Dick nodded, but stayed silent as he continued staring at the suit.

“What?”

“I, it’s amazing but,” Dick broke off for a few seconds as he pulled his hand away, then whispered, “isn’t this what started all of these problems?”

“Dick, look at me.” Bruce told him, putting a hand on his son’s shoulder. Slowly, Dick turned his head in his direction and lifted his head, but didn’t meet his eyes. While Bruce wished Dick would look right at him, he didn’t try to force him. As long as he heard what he was about to say, that was all that mattered.

“Everyone makes mistakes. You’ve been around me long enough to know that I’ve made more than my fair share of them. So has every member of the Justice League and every person on this planet. What matters, is what you do after you make the mistake. You admitted your mistakes, took responsibility for them and are now trying to make it right. That’s a lot more than what other people do. That’s what makes you a good person, and standing up and fighting to help others, is what makes you a hero.” Bruce said. Leaning closer to Dick so this time he was staring directly into Dick’s eyes, he added, “And you were the one who truly taught me that.”

For several minutes, Dick just stared at him, as though he wasn’t sure if he believed him. He didn’t think that what Bruce said was true, but he knew Bruce had a hard time being that open and emotional so when he was, it was a good bet that he was telling the truth. Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, Dick replied, “Thank you.”

“Do you know where Slade is?” Bruce wondered as Dick closed the suitcase and locked it.

“Not yet. Rose gave me a few options of where Slade might be though. Those are first one my list.” Dick answered. He then moved to go down the hall, possibly to get ready to leave, when Bruce grabbed his arm to stop him.

“I have a better way of tracking him down.” Bruce said as he pulled out his phone. Dick waited while he typed something on his phone, then handed it to him.

“What’s this?” Dick questioned, confused by what he was seeing. It looked very familiar, but he didn’t know for sure what it was.

“You didn’t think I only put one tracker in Jason, did you?” Bruce responded with a smirk.

Shaking his head, Dick said, “Most of the time, I hate your paranoia and lack of understanding boundaries and privacy, but right now, I’m beyond grateful.”

“You’re welcome.” Bruce replied. Putting his hand back on Dick’s shoulder to get his attention, he waited until Dick looked back up at him before he continued, “Just be careful.”

“I will.” Dick assured, then went to get ready to go. It was time to rescue the Titans, get Jericho and bring Slade down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Bruce might be a bit OOC, but that’s where I felt this story going. Hope you all like it!


	7. Watch Me Rise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick reminder, I am not that good at writing fight scenes, so I’m sorry if it’s bad. I tried my best. Hope you all like it though! Chapter title is taken from the song Watch Me Rise by Mikky Echo.

Rachel sat in the corner of her little cell, her arms wrapped around her legs which she had brought up to her chest. Though Slade didn’t hurt her, didn’t actually touch her, she was still a little freaked out. There was no doubt in her mind that the assassin was planning on hurting her, maybe even killing her, but something started flashing on his arm. She didn’t know what it was, but Slade almost looked scared or something when he saw it. He then rushed out of her cell, making sure to lock the door, and left the room. He hadn’t been back since, and that was hours ago.

“You sure you’re okay Rachel?” Gar couldn’t help but ask even though she had assured them multiple times already that she was okay and they had all seen that Slade hadn’t actually hurt her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Rachel answered though her tone made it clear she was starting to get a little annoyed by the repeated question. Wanting to talk about something else, she asked, “What do you think happened that made him run out of here?”

“No idea. Maybe something to do with Rose?” Jason suggested with a shrug.

“Maybe.” Rachel replied, though she didn’t sound sure. It was a very real possibility, but since they hadn’t seen her, and Slade hadn’t brought her up except for when he told them about how she was actually working with him, she kind of doubted it. If Rose really was working with Slade and wanted revenge on them for what happened to Jericho, wouldn’t she come in to mock them or something?

“Either way, we should be grateful he’s distracted right now.” Hank said as he stood up and again went over to his cell door.

“Why?” Gar asked, looking over at him curiously.

“So we can figure out how to get out of here.” Hank answered as he examined the door that was keeping him from freedom.

“We tried that already. There is no way out of here except for opening the doors from the outside.” Dawn reminded him, sounding tired. The kind of tired where you didn’t want to do anything but sleep for days. Hank however, ignored her and kept looking.

Gar watched him for a minute, then felt his stomach cramp up, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since before they were kidnapped, causing him to ask, “How long do you think we’ve been here?”

“The way my stomach is grumbling, I’d say nearly two days.” Jason responded, bringing up his hand to rub his stomach. Having spent so much time out on the streets, he had learned how his stomach ached from hunger to the point that he could tell how much time had passed simply from the ache. If he couldn’t find a way to satisfy his hunger on his own, he would eventually swallow his pride and go to the soup kitchen once it got too bad. Luckily, he only got to that point twice. He doubted that he would live long enough for his hunger to torture him like it did those times though. Slade will probably draw out their deaths, wanting to savor his revenge as must as possible, but he’d most likely kill them before he got that hungry.

“Feels like longer.” Gar told him. Looking down at his stomach, he added, “I’m really hungry.”

“Me too.” Rachel replied. “Any chance he’s going to give us food?”

“He wants to kill us all. I doubt feeding us figures into that.” Hank rejoined the conversation though his focus remained on trying to find a way out of his prison.

“If he wants to drag this out though, then he’d have to.” Rachel pointed out.

“Can we stop talking about this please?” Kory requested, sounding annoyed. She was extremely hungry as well but the more they talked about it, the worst her stomach ached. And talking about how they were soon going to die wasn’t really a better topic either.

“Then what should we talk about?” Gar wondered, looking over at her.

“Nothing.” Dawn answered, leaning her head against the back wall of her cell. Gar looked over at her, then down at the floor and stayed silent.

The silence only lasted about 20 seconds though before the green-haired teenager said, “This is boring.”

Kory shot a sympathetic look at Gar before turning her gaze over to Donna. The photographer hadn’t made a single noise since she cried herself out hours ago and it was really starting to worry the alien. She had never seen her like this. Granted she had only known Donna for a few months, but she would’ve thought that Donna would’ve reacted in anger and determination. That she would’ve let Dick’s death fuel her, especially since they were still in danger. Yet she practically shut down. It made Kory wonder if there was something she didn’t know, something she was missing.

Kory knew that Dick and Donna had known each other for years, but she didn’t realize it was for that long until Donna told them about how they met. Knowing that now, Kory could easily understand how badly she would be hurting. Dick’s death hurt her too. And the fact that they had been fighting right before he died with no time to make it right wouldn’t have helped, but for Donna to have become so quiet and lethargic instead of wanting revenge confused Kory. Before she could really think of why, the sound of a distant explosion had everyone looking over at the door. 

“What was that?” Rachel asked, looking over at the adults, hoping they knew what was happening. Before anyone could actually answer though, the door slammed open and a person dressed in a blue and orange suit with a sword strapped to their back came into the room.

“Who’s that?” Gar wondered instead of answering Rachel’s question. The only answer he got though was the masked person, who had apparently heard Gar, because they reached up and pulled the mask away, surprising everyone as it was the last person the expected to see.

“Rose?” Dawn exclaimed in shock. Rose only grinned and walked over to Kory’s cell, which was the closest, revealing another person coming in behind her.

“And, you.” Jason said, recognizing the boy as the one who had saved him days ago. Since he was shot and unconscious right after, he didn’t get a chance to talk to him, or find out what his name was.

“Conner.” The boy, Conner, introduced himself, apparently realizing that no one knew his name before looking down at a dog that had come in with him. “And Krypto.”

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked as both Rose and Conner started to unlock all of their cells.

“Rescuing you guys.” Rose answered, her tone of voice making it clear she thought that that was a stupid question.

“But, you were working with Slade.” Hank reminded her angrily. Though he was glad he was finally out of his cell, he was still furious at her for playing them.

“It’s a long story, I’ll fill you in later.” Rose responded, not rising to his anger. They didn’t really have time to argue right now. She still had to get these guys out of here and go see if Dick needed help fighting her Dad.

“Where is Slade?” Kory wondered as they all made their way out of the room and into a hallway that had windows, revealing that they were in a high-rise building in a city. San Francisco from the looks of it. Slade didn’t even take them out of the city.

“Dick’s keeping him busy.” Rose told him, causing everyone’s head to snap in her direction in complete shock.

“What?” Donna said, speaking for the first time in hours. Rose looked over at them and was a little surprised to see the shocked and disbelief expressions on their faces. That’s when she remembered that Dick had been shot at and apparently fell off the roof. They most likely thought that he was dead.

“Dick’s alive.” She informed them. Not really giving them the chance to process that, she gestured to the door and said, “Come on, we got to get out of here.”

Without any further prompting, they followed her out of the room. 

**2018TITANS2018**

Entering the apartment that he had been staying in while his prisoners were in the beside it, Slade kicked the nearest chair in anger, causing it to fall over. He had been hoping the alert he got on his computer device on his suit was a false alarm, but when he went to check the security cameras he kept on the warehouse where he kept Jericho’s body, he found none of them working. After making sure that none of the Titans could escape from the cells, he drove to the warehouse to see happened. To his horror, he found that the place had been broken into and Jericho’s body was gone.

He searched for clues as to who could have done this, but there was none. He then tried to think who might’ve done this, but he couldn’t think of anyone. Rose hadn’t been in contact with him since before he attacked the Tower and while that concerned him a little, he knew she couldn’t have done it. She didn’t know about Jericho’s body or the warehouse. And since Grayson was dead, there was no way he could do it. He knew nothing about it either. Slade wondered if maybe Batman had gotten involved, wanting to avenge his first partner and in attempt to look for his second partner. But, how could he know anything about Jericho?

Reigning in his anger as best as he could, Slade made his way over to the desk where he had his computers all set up. He needed to check that all of his prisoners were still in their cells and start searching for who took his son’s body. Of course the second that the images of the Titans still locked in their cells filled the screen, Slade felt Jericho’s anger. He closed his eyes, opening the connection to his son to tell him that he was doing all this for him, but like always, Jericho refused to believe him, saying that if he really cared about what he wanted, he would let the Titans go and leave them alone. Not really having time to have this argument again, Slade pushed Jericho back and closed the connection. Opening his eyes, he found that the computer screen was completely black.

Thinking that maybe the computer went on sleep mode or something, even though it shouldn’t have, Slade moved the mouse, then started pressing keys. The screen remained dark. A sense of unease came over him and before he could calm it and check what was going on, he felt a presence inside the apartment with him. Slade pulled out the gun that was in between the waist of his pants and back and held it out, ready to fire at any threat that might be here with him. As he wasn’t wearing his suit, it was the only weapon he had on him.

Slade barely made it two steps from the computer before something metal flashed in the air and hit the gun in his hand, buried deep in the barrel, rendering it useless. It looked a lot like the bat shaped shurikens that Batman used, but was a little different. It had more of a bird shape than a bat. There were less edges, was thinner and was longer. Looking over in the direction it came from, a figure stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing a suit that was completely black with the exception of a blue bird on his chest with its wings spread out to his shoulders and down his arms. The person was also wearing a mask over his eyes, but Slade easily recognized the person in front of him. 

“Grayson.” Slade growled in fury, masking his shock. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised, the young man was definitely the type to be nearly impossible to get rid of, like a bug, but he really did think he was dead. As far as he could tell, he wasn’t wearing protection when he shot him, so there should’ve been no way he could’ve survived a bullet to the heart. He was smarter and more resourceful than he thought.

“Hello Slade.” Dick responded with a slight and cocky grin. While Slade clenched his jaw, he could feel Jericho practically rejoice that the vigilante in front of him was still alive which angered and confused the assassin. After all of this, Jericho still believed that Dick Grayson was a hero while his own father was evil.

“Don’t know if I’m furious that you are still alive, or grateful that you are so I can kill you in a much more satisfying way.” Slade told him, pushing Jericho down so he could focus on the fight that was about to happen.

“If you’re going to kill me, you better do it now, because you aren’t going to get another chance.” Dick replied, then raised both of his hands to grab the two sticks that were attached to his back.

As he held them out in front of him, ready to fight, blue electricity crackled from the ends of them. Slade tensed up slightly at the sight. While he was stronger and healed fast due to the experiments he underwent during his time in the military, he wasn’t wearing his armour and that electricity would hurt and definitely weaken him. Despite that, Slade threw aside the broken gun, got into a fighting position, and waited for Grayson to make the first move.

For a few tense seconds, neither moved. Then, Dick struck. Slade easily blocked and threw a punch. The vigilante ducked, twisting in a way that seemed unnatural to the one-eyed man. With that move, he was able to stab Slade in his ribs with one of the electric weapons in his hand. Clenching his teeth as the pain filled his body, Slade tried to move out of the way, but Dick pulled it away before it could do that much damage which confused him.

Not really caring, he launched another attacked at the so called ‘hero’, who practically twirled out of the way and kicked out at Slade’s leg as he did. Losing his balance, Dick elbowed the man in the back, hard enough to push him forward a little, but not enough to really hurt, confusing him all the more. He was already realizing he was going to have to up his game in this fight. He didn’t have his armour or any of his weapons which already put him at a disadvantage but the way that the younger man was fighting wasn’t like he had seen before. It reminded him a bit of a dance actually. And yet, despite having a clear edge on him, Dick didn’t seem to be fighting as well as he could be.

“You’re pulling your punches.” Slade observed, dodging another blow.

“Because I don’t want to hurt Jericho.” Dick answered, causing Slade to freeze in shock. “I know he’s in there.”

“And he’s trapped in here because of you.” Slade shot back, getting back in control of himself before his opponent could take advantage of his surprise.

“Not for long.” Dick told him, shocking Slade again. This time, he did take advantage of that and kneed Slade in the stomach before he pushed him against the wall and said, “Jericho, if you can hear me, I can help you.”

Slade quickly pushed back and turned them both around so that it was Dick up against the wall instead of him with enough force that Dick dropped one of his sticks. Putting his arm against Dick’s neck, he hissed, “Hasn’t he had enough of your help?”

“I just need you to come with me.” Dick said, clearly talking to Jericho and ignoring what the assassin was saying. Slade opened his mouth to tell him off, but he stopped it when he felt something changing within him. It only took him a few seconds to realize that his son apparently believed him. The assassin tried to move his head to keep Jericho from looking into the young man’s eyes, but it was too late.

Dick could tell that Slade was trying not to look at him, obviously trying to keep Jericho with him, but he was too late. The vigilante could see something different in his eyes. Then, despite the fact that they were inside, he felt something akin to a gentle breeze hit his face. Almost immediately he could feel another presence in his body. It was strange and a little uncomfortable, but it meant that it worked. At least, he thought it did.

_‘Dick?’_ The hesitant voice questioned, a voice that Dick hadn’t heard in years but easily recognized. Jericho.

_‘I got you. Just gotta finish this.’_ Dick told him. Jericho understood that and seemed to bury himself so that he wouldn’t be a distraction while the hero fought off his father. Dick could still feel him but not as intensely as before.

“No.” Slade growled as he realized that he no longer had his son. Dick smirked, knowing that unless he wanted to risk hurting Jericho, he couldn’t fight at his full strength. And now that Jericho was with him, Dick was under no such restrictions anymore.

Because of the way he was pressed against the wall, Dick couldn’t really move his arms. Instead, he lifted his leg and kneed Slade hard in the stomach. The criminal instinctively loosened his hold on the hero and grunted in pain, allowing Dick to break free and land a blow on Slade’s face with his escrima stick. Slade took a few steps back and Dick quickly moved to grab him. Slade then moved to grab him as well and before any of them knew it, they fell hard against the window, breaking it and falling through.

Though it wasn’t planned, Dick wasn’t that scared as a normal person would be when they fall through a window and down to the street hundreds of feet below. He had grown up knowing how to fly and how to fall. Jericho on the other hand was freaking out. Dick quickly assured him and pushed Slade away from him, then reached for the straps on his suit and spread out his arms a little, pulling out the small wings that were sewn into the suit that allowed him to paraglide through the air and towards the building across the street while Slade considered to fall. Stu and Lily really thought of everything when they made this suit. However, since was the first time he used them, he landed hard, tucking into a ball and rolled.

Dick groaned as he came to stop, his ribs and shoulder protesting loudly at the fall. He was definitely going to be feeling that in the morning. As he pushed himself up, he could feel Jericho’s worry, but he assured him that he was fine, then walked over to the ledge. He needed to see where Slade ended up, if he did indeed fall or if he somehow caught himself. If he did manage to stop from falling, then Dick’s night wasn’t over yet. When he saw the orange and black clad figure lying on the street unmoving though, he let himself relax a little as he reached into his belt for a small device and clicked the only button on it, letting Bruce know that Slade was taken care of and to call the police.

_‘Is he, dead?’_ Jericho asked hesitantly. Dick could feel the mixed emotions coming from the teenager and he didn’t really blame him.

Staring down at Jericho’s body, he could faintly see Slade’s arm twitching and mentally said, _‘No, he’ll heal.’_

_‘Can you really help me?’_ Jericho wondered hopefully.

_‘Yeah, I can.’_ Dick told him, then let the mental image of Jericho’s body in the infirmary bed and Leslie’s words come to his mind so the young man could see and hear it. He felt Jericho’s immediate relief at that and said, _‘Let’s go.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, the fight scene was kinda sloppy and skimmed over, but I did my best. If anyone knows sites that helps teaches writers how to execute a fight scene, please let me know because I do want to get better. And I know that Slade probably wouldn’t be that easily defeated, but I think one, Dick is a lot better of a fighter than often portrayed. Two, combined with the surprise of the attack, the distraction of Jericho, his own anger of Jericho leaving, and suddenly falling from a window all weakened Slade, along with not wearing his armour or having any weapons on him. See you all next time!


	8. It Is What It Is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from the song It Is What Is It by Lifehouse. Hope you all like this chapter!

Dick quickly and quietly made his way into the small infirmary room where Jericho’s body was. He knew everyone else was in the living room so he avoided it. He did want to see them, needed to reassure himself that they were all okay, but Jericho had been trapped in someone else’s body for five years. Dick could feel from him that it was torture and he deserved to be seen to first. Plus, he doubted the others would want to see him. He was the reason this whole mess happened in the first place after all.

He could feel, hear, Jericho protest at that but he tried to ignore it. The younger man in his head persisted, trying to understand why Dick thought that and Dick wasn’t sure if he succeeded in keeping that hidden or not. Frankly, he was a little surprised that Jericho didn’t seem to blame him. Considering everything that he did, he expected him to hate him. To only agree to this in order to get back in his own body. And yet, Jericho didn’t seem upset with him at all. He only seemed upset at how Dick blamed himself, hated himself for what happened.

Pushing that all to the side, Dick sat on the side of the bed and looked directly into Jericho’s open eyes and mentally said, _‘Here we go.’_

He could feel Jericho hesitate a little nervous that this might not work, but with a trust that Dick knew he didn’t deserve, Jericho focused on his own eyes. Almost instantly, Dick could feel the younger man’s presence disappear from inside of him. He was gone. Then, he saw Jericho’s eyes close and started internally panicking. Before he could do anything about it though, his eyes opened again. They were completely normal, and were now focusing on him.

“Jericho?” Dick hesitantly said, watching with a hopeful expression. Jericho lifted his head, smiled, then lifted his hands and started moving his fingers.

“Sorry, still don’t know sign language.” Dick apologized. Examining the room, he quickly found a pad of paper off to the side and a pen. He brought it over to Jericho and said, “Here. Can you use this?”

Jericho nodded, pushed himself up so he was sitting and took it from him. Dick waited a minute while Jericho wrote something down, and when he finished, he held it up so Dick could see it. When he did, he let out a chuckle.

_What’s up jack*ss?_

“I missed you.” Dick said, still smiling as he sat down on the edge of the bed beside him. Jericho flipped the pad to a different page and wrote something else down, then moved so he could see it.

_Missed you too._

Before Dick could respond to that, Jericho put down the pad and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly. Dick returned the embrace, then pulled away so he could look at him as he said, “Jericho, I’m really sorry about everything that happened. You didn’t deserve any of that.”

Jericho immediately started writing something else down before flipping it again so Dick could see it.

_It’s not your fault. It was Slade._

“I still messed up too.” He responded. Immediately Jericho wrote something else down.

_It’s okay. I know you never meant to hurt me. Thank you for finding and saving me._

“I’m sorry it took so long.” Dick apologized.

_It’s okay. How could you know?_

Before Dick could think of something else to say, he spotted Rose waiting by the door, watching them. He didn’t know when she showed up, having thought that she was with the others, but he knew what she wanted. Turning back to Jericho, he said, “There’s someone here who really wants to meet you.”

Jericho frowned, a little confused but when Dick turned to face the door, Jericho saw Rose standing there watching them. He immediately pushed himself up even more and waved her in. She looked a little nervous but slowly entered the room. Wanting to make room for her, Dick stood up and walked to the opposite end of the room.

“Hi Jericho. I’m Rose.” The teenager introduced herself, sitting down in the spot that Dick had previously occupied. Jericho smiled, then wrote something on a clean sheet of paper and showed it to her.

_Nice to finally meet you. I’m sorry Dad dragged you into this mess._

“It’s not your fault.” Rose told him.

For a minute or two, Dick watched them awkwardly talk. He had been intending to sneak out and let them have their privacy, but before he could, the door opened and Donna, Dawn, Hank, Rachel, Gar, Jason and Conner walked inside. At first, they looked at him, but when their eyes landed on Jericho, they froze.

“Jericho?” Hank whispered in shock.

**2018TITANS2018**

In the living room of the safe-house, the rest of the Titans sat on the couches and chairs, completely filling the place to the point it was actually crowded. Especially with the doctor, Leslie Thompkins, coming in to check them over. After Rose rescued them, she led them to car and drove them to the house where Bruce and Leslie were waiting. They wanted to stay and wait for Dick, but apparently, he made Rose promise him to get them out as soon as she could. He didn’t want them to get hurt anymore than they already might be.

Once they arrived, the billionaire easily got the collars off Rachel, Gar, Donna and Kory, then had Leslie started examining them. Bruce stayed until after she checked over Jason and after seeing that he was okay, he left the room without a word. During the whole time, Rachel kept her eyes on the open archway leading to the hall to see if Dick had shown up yet. So far, there was no sight of him.

“Well?” Kory questioned as Leslie seemed to finish and start packing up her stethoscope.

“You all have to eat and drink more water. You guys are a bit dehydrated and malnourished, but other than that, you guys are all in pretty good shape, considering.” Leslie replied.

“Is Dick back?” Rachel immediately asked the second Leslie stopped talking.

“I don’t know.” The doctor answered, glancing out the archway to see if she could spot the former Robin. When she didn’t see him, or anyone, she looked back over at the group and said, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“We shouldn’t have left. We should have stayed.” Jason told them. He was one of the ones who fought the most about leaving Dick to fight Slade alone, along with Rachel and Hank and Donna, but was overpowered by Kory, Rose and Dawn. Gar wasn’t all that happy with leaving either, but he didn’t argue as much as the other three did.

Footsteps had everyone looked over at the opening to see the billionaire coming into the room. Jason perked up a little and said, “Bruce.”

“How are they?” Bruce asked the doctor after glancing at Jason.

“Besides lack of food and water, they’re fine.” Leslie answered, looking over at him.

“Good.” He responded, then walked over to stand by Jason.

“Is Dick here?” Rachel asked, also looking over at Bruce.

“Yes, he got back a little while ago.” He informed them. At that, everyone shot up to their feet.

“Why didn’t you tell us? Where is he?” Jason demanded.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at Jason’s tone, but when he looked at everyone else, he said, “Why don’t you all come with me?”

Though not really understanding what was going on, they followed behind him as he walked down the hall. When they got to the last door on the left, Bruce just tilted his head at the door, silently tell them to go in. Wanting to see Dick more than wanting answers about what was going on, Donna, Dawn, Hank, Rachel, Gar, Jason and Conner entered the room, and found Rose sitting on a bed beside someone that only Dawn, Hank and Donna recognized.

“Jericho?” Hank whispered in shock. Jericho smirked at them, then lifted his hands and started twisting his fingers in somewhat recognizable forms.

“He said ‘what’s up a**holes?’.” Dawn informed the others, causing all of them to chuckle.

“You’re alive.” Donna started, still so stunned as she walked over to the bed, the others following behind her. Jericho nodded, his smile widening.

“But, how?” Dawn questioned.

Dick still stood silently at the end of the room as Jericho started rapidly telling them what happened, but now his focus was the people that had just come in. It was the first time he had seen them since Slade attacked the Tower and he was beyond grateful and glad to see that they looked okay. He knew he should probably talk to them, but this wasn’t the right time. Plus, he highly doubted that they would even want to talk to him. It was because of him that they had gotten kidnapped and almost killed after all, and they were already mad at him before that happened.

So, taking advantage of the distraction Jericho’s presence gave them, he slipped behind the group and walked out of the room with no one noticing. Well, almost no one. Bruce was coming down the hall towards the door Dick had just exited. Lowering his head, he waited for his adoptive father to reach him.

“You’re not going to stay?” Bruce wondered, his brow furrowing in what looked like to be worry.

“No. I gotta head back to the Tower, clean up and close it down.” Dick answered as he reached him.

“What?” Bruce asked, confused and a little stunned. Dick had always seemed to love the Titans Tower and having a team. He understood closing it down after the incident with Slade five years ago, but not this time. They had stopped Slade, saved the others and ended up finding out that Jericho was still alive and managed to save him as well. This was a win.

“If there’s one thing I realized over the last several days, it’s that restarting the Titans was a mistake. They know it too. Dawn even threatened to burn the place to the ground.” Dick revealed.

“Isn’t that a tad dramatic?” Bruce responded.

“I think she was just trying to make a point.”

“I’m talking about you.” That got Dick’s full attention. As soon Bruce saw that, he added, “When Leslie was looking them over, they mostly just talked about wanting to see you.”

Dick seemed a little taken aback at that, but quickly said, “Probably just to reassure themselves that I am alive. Once they do that, they’ll remember why they are mad at me and how I failed.”

“You made a mistake, but you kept going, and fixed it. It’s more than they did.” Bruce told him, putting a hand on Dick’s shoulder. “And while I always prefer to prepare for the worst, I think that they might surprise you.”

Dick nodded, but didn’t look like he believed him at all. Realizing that, Bruce dropped his hand and said, “Don’t worry about the clean-up. I can take care of it.”

“No, it’s my mess. My responsibility. I’ll deal with it.” Dick replied, still not really meeting his eyes. Bruce nodded, but stayed quiet. Though he wanted to keep Dick here, to prove that he was most likely wrong about the others, that would just start a fight and that was the last thing the billionaire wanted. If Dick wanted to go and do this, then he would let him.

“Hey Bruce?” The Dark Knight looked back over at him to see that Dick was now actually looking up at him for the first time since he came out of the room.

“Thanks, for everything.” Dick told him with a sincere expression, wanting the older man to see that he was being honest.

“You’re welcome.” Bruce said, actually letting a small smile appear on his face. Dick then turned around and walked down the hall towards the door and left the building.


	9. Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from the song Broken by Lifehouse. Hope you all like this chapter!

As Dick entered the Tower, he took everything in and grimaced. When he woke up on the balcony after Slade attacked and kidnapped the other Titans, he didn’t really take a look at the damage done to the place. He had had more important things on his mind at the time. Seeing the broken window, the bullet holes in the walls and pictures, the few wrecked chairs, he felt his heart break a little. He also knew that he had his work cut out for him. He had declined Bruce’s offer to take care of the clean-up, but seeing it now, he might have to change his mind about that.

His first order of business though was to change out of his Nightwing suit. Instead of changing at the safe-house, he had just thrown on a coat on and had taken off his mask. It was hard enough changing into the suit with his bruised ribs and shoulder, he didn’t want to change there at the off chance that Bruce or Leslie might see. Their attention should be on the others. Going into his room, he found a pair of sweats and changed into that, not bothering to put on a shirt. While he normally never walked around shirtless in the Tower, he was the only one here and his body was aching enough after getting his suit off that he didn’t bother. Then, he headed back to the main room of the apartment to start his task.

Within minutes, the silence got to him. He didn’t like pure silence. Never had. It was one of the things that made living with Bruce, and living alone, difficult. So he turned on the TV, which helped. Soon, he got all of the broken glass swept up and into a garbage bag. Then, he put the broken chairs and picture frames in garbage bags as well, though he pulled the pictures out and put them on the kitchen table to deal with later. After that, he tackled the difficult task of taping cardboard over the large hole of the even larger window.

He wasn’t sure if there was anything else he could do. He would have to pack up the rest of his belongings and find some place to store them until he figured out his next step. The others though, they would have to come and get their stuff. He was positive that they’d all rather pack that up themselves. After all, he wouldn’t want someone going through his stuff.

Briefly, Dick wondered what the others were doing right now. Were they still with Jericho, or had they gone to bed? They probably should be in bed since it was pretty late. He also wondered if they were doing okay. They didn’t look injured when he had seen them for that brief moment before he left but he didn’t get a chance to ask Leslie. Hopefully they were fine. Besides, if one of them or all of them were seriously injured, Bruce would’ve told him. Shrugging off the thoughts, Dick focused back on what he was doing.

Once he was done tapping the window though, despite everything he still wanted to do, the adrenaline that had been fueling him ever since he realized that Slade kidnapped his friends was gone. He had barely slept or eaten during that time and now he was crashing. He knew she should probably find something eat, to give him more energy so he could keep going, but the couch was closer. So he made his way over to it and laid down on his back, doing his best not to put any more pressure on his bruises.

He only intended to rest for five, maybe ten minutes before getting back and finished his job, but the quiet noise from the TV, the couch cushions and his exhaustion pulled him down. Closing his eyes, the world completely faded around him and he finally fell asleep.

**2018TITANS2018**

Still in the room with Jericho, the others listened as the young man explained how he survived. It was beyond shocking to hear that he had been inside of Slade the whole time, even for Dawn, Hank and Donna who were aware of his powers. The three original Titans almost felt like they were in a dream or something. The assassin that killed Garth and kidnapped them was in custody, the kid that they had all loved that they thought was dead was actually alive along with Dick, and they were completely unharmed. It was like they were floating on cloud 9.

“This is so crazy.” Hank stated with a wide smile. Even though Jericho was sitting in front of him and was talking with them all, Hank couldn’t truly believe that this was real.

“Wait. Where’s Dick?” Rose wondered, suddenly realizing that the leader of the Titans was gone. She had seen that he was still in the room when the others came in but now he was gone.

“He was here right?” Donna asked, also looking around the room and seeing that he wasn’t there.

“He was.” Rose confirmed.

Dawn shrugged and said, “He probably left to give us privacy or something.”

At that, Jericho immediately started signing to them, but no one really noticed as they were to preoccupied with Dick’s sudden disappearance. Seconds later though, Rose’s gaze came back to him.

“What is it Jericho?” Rose asked, seeing that he was trying to get their attention. However, he waited until Dawn was looking at him as she was the only one who knew sign language. Then, he immediately started telling her what he had learned during the brief time that he was in Dick’s head.

“What’s he saying Dawn?” Hank questioned, seeing his girlfriend pale as she watched Jericho sign to her.

Dawn didn’t answer her boyfriend. Her entire focus was on Jericho and with every word he signed, she felt her heart drop farther and farther down her body to her feet. Jericho told her about what he had seen while he was in Dick’s head. About how much guilt Dick felt, how for the last five years he had been hating himself, blaming himself for it. How he felt like he didn’t deserve any kind of happiness at all really. And, how he felt like he deserved not only the reaction the others had when he told them how Jericho actually died, but also deserved the bullet to the heart that Slade fired. He truly believed he should’ve paid with his life.

It was only when Jericho finished that Dawn turned to the others and filled them in on what Jericho had said. She didn’t tell them everything, knowing that they felt bad enough for how they made Dick feel and knowing that Dick would not want them know. He most likely didn’t like that Jericho found all of that out. She doubted he even realized that Jericho had seen what he all did.

“We need to go find him.” Donna said with a resolute voice. No one had any objections to that. After wishing Jericho a good night and a promise to see him soon, they all headed out in search of Dick Grayson. The first person they ran across though, was Bruce Wayne, near the end of the hall.

“Bruce.” The billionaire turned his head to look at them when he heard Dawn call out his name. He stayed still as she and the others reached him and when they did, Donna asked, “Where’s Dick?”

“He left a couple of hours ago.” Bruce answered, no emotion in his voice or on his face.

“What?” Rachel responded in complete disbelief. After everything that happened, she thought that Dick was done running.

“He seemed to be under the impression that you all didn’t want anything to do with him. Any idea why?” Bruce questioned, raising an eyebrow at them that gave them all the feeling that he knew exactly why.

However, the fact that he asked reminded the Titans of what all went down before Slade had kidnapped them. Guilt that had been pushed down with the news that Dick and Jericho were both alive suddenly resurfaced in every one of them. Except for Rose and Conner. Rose didn’t know what exactly happened between Dick and the others as she left right after Dick revealed the truth about what happened in the church that night but she had witnessed Hank punching Dick and the beginning of the yelling, so she had a fairly good idea what did happen. Conner on the other hand, was just beyond confused by what was going on.

“We had a fight, a big one. And we said some things that were wrong, and probably a bit hurtful.” Dawn admitted, looking down at the ground as shame coloured her face.

“So we need to find him and apologize.” Donna added, keeping her gaze locked with Bruce’s. When she thought Dick was dead, all she could think about was how she had treated him like crap and would never have the chance to make it right. Then when she heard that he was alive, all she wanted to do was hug him and tell him that she was sorry and that she loved him. And now she had lost her chance because she was distracted by Jericho and she couldn’t wait any longer.

“Please Bruce.” Donna begged when he remained silent, as though he was punishing them by forcing them to drown in their guilt without giving them a chance to make it right.

However, a glance at Jason had Bruce saying, “He’s at the Tower. He’s cleaning it up to close it down.”

“Closing it down?” Gar repeated with a confused voice.

“He thinks that restarting the Titans was a bad idea. And he said something about one of you wanting to burn the place to the ground.” Bruce explained.

“We never said that.” Rachel objected.

“Actually, I did say something to that effect, but it was about something else.” Dawn revealed, causing everyone to glance over at her.

“Don’t tell me, go tell him.” Bruce responded, shrugging his shoulders. Everyone immediately started heading towards the door to go after Dick.

“Wait.” Dawn suddenly stopped and turned back to Bruce. “What about Jericho?”

“Oh he’s going to stay here while he heals. And I’ll be calling his mother in the morning and letting her know what happened.” Gotham’s Dark Knight informed them, causing the three older vigilantes to nod. They hadn’t even thought about Jericho’s Mom and were glad that Bruce had. She needed to know.

“Thanks Bruce.” Dawn told him, then she and the others practically ran towards the door to go after their missing member.

**2018TITANS2018**

The entire drive to the Tower was filled with a tense silence. Luckily the traffic wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been since it was the middle of the night. If there had been a lot of traffic, Hank probably would’ve punched through the steering wheel because he would’ve been hitting the horn so hard.

Even when they arrived, they all remained quiet, their thoughts solely on Dick. Rachel’s entire head was filled with constant scenarios as to what could happen when they finally arrived. What would they say when they saw him? Would he forgive them? Would he even listen? What if they were too late and he was already gone? She knew that she wouldn’t have to worry about that last one though when they entered their home and heard that the TV was on.

“Dick?” Donna quietly called out. When they got no response, they all quietly spread out looking for him.

“Krypto found him.” Conner whispered from the living room.

Immediately they all walked over and found Dick, lying on the couch, fast asleep. He was clad in only a pair of black sweats, exposing the bruises that stretched along the entire left side of his torso, his left shoulder, left cheek and the scabbed over cut above his left eyebrow. Injuries caused by the fall from the roof. They all winced when they saw how bad the bruises were. It was almost a little surprising that Dick was able to fight and defeat Slade with those bruises. Hank also clenched his teeth at the sight of the younger man’s black eye, knowing that Dick did not get that from Slade or the fall. He got that from him.

“Let’s let him sleep. He needs it.” Donna told them, keeping her voice quiet so not to wake him. As much as she did want to wake him, to hug him and tell him how sorry she was for what she said and how she acted, she knew he needed sleep more. They could talk in the morning. Spying a blanket on the couch against the wall beside her, she went over to grab it and was going to drape it over him when she noticed Rachel leaning over him.

“Rach? What are you doing?” Donna questioned, coming back over to her and the rest of the group.

“Helping.” Rachel answered, then turned back to Dick.

Placing one hand on his forehead, right on the cut and one on his injured shoulder. She did her best not to put that much pressure on them so she wouldn’t hurt him. He shifted slightly, causing her to freeze, but when he didn’t wake up, she continued. Within seconds, the bruises and cut disappeared and he seemed to relax even more onto the cushions. As Rachel pulled her hands away, her eyes drifted to the scars along his torso. There weren’t that many, but the ones that were there looked like they had been bad. She wondered which ones were from that story that Donna told them.

“Nice.” Hank commented when he saw all of Dick’s injuries were gone.

“Thanks.” Rachel responded, blushing slightly at the praise.

Jason turned his gaze from his predecessor to the group and asked, “What should we do now?”

“Get some rest. We all need some shut eye.” Dawn suggested. They hadn’t slept since they were kidnapped and only had a few granola bars at the safehouse after they were rescued and she was exhausted. Judging from the bags under everyone else’s eyes, she was sure they were too.

Rachel nodded, but instead of heading to her room, she walked over to the other couch and got ready to lie down, causing Kory to ask, “You sleeping here?”

“I don’t want to leave him alone.”

“Remember when we had that movie night, back when we first moved in?” Gar asked, directing the question at Jason and Rachel. The night they first moved in, they had decided to have a movie night. A sort of bonding, get-to-know-one-another type thing that was actually a lot of fun. They had moved most of the furniture out of the way and brought out their mattresses so they could all sleep in front of the TV, like a slumber party.

Seeing the two of them nod, remembering that event, Gar said, “Why don’t we do that?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Jason replied with a small grin. He then quickly filled the others in on what they were talking about while Rachel and Jason went to grab the blankets and pillows.

Surprising, they agreed that it was a good idea. Besides Rose that is. It was clear that sleepovers were not her thing but she kept her mouth shut and helped move the furniture while everyone went to grab some mattresses so they could all fit. As soon as they had everything set up, they all picked a spot and fell fast asleep within seconds alongside their leader.


	10. Fall On Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, rumour has it that we might be getting Red Hood in season 3 and, I don’t fully know how to process that. Part of me really wants it to happen, but I know that my heart will break if it does just because of how that storyline starts along with being worried that the writers won’t do a good job of it, but, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Read the note at the end of the chapter for a special announcement. Chapter title taken from the song Fall on Me by Andrea and Matteo Bocelli. Hope you all like this chapter!

Due to his training from Batman, there were very few times Dick woke up like he did now. Feeling warm, safe and comfortable. As if he was resting on a cloud in the sun, completely relaxed. Not worrying at all about what was going on around him. Not waking up and immediately mentally taking stock of where he was, what was happening and what he had to do. It was nice. Dick didn’t think he wanted to leave this state that he was in. However, it only lasted a few seconds before his brain picked up on some inconsistencies that forced him to fight to full awareness.

He remembered that he had gone to the Tower to clean it up and start packing, and had taken a break on the couch. He must’ve fallen asleep. But when he did that, he had left the TV on. It was off now. He also didn’t have a blanket before but now he could feel one covering him. And when he focused, he could hear not only the sound of someone near him snoring, but also quiet voices from somewhere behind him. He had been alone in the Tower when he fell asleep and the others were at the safe house. So who was with him?

Slowly, he opened his eyes. The TV was off, like he already knew, but there were a lot more changes than just that. The coffee table was gone to make room for two queen size mattresses on the floor in the front of the couch he was on. On the mattress closest to him, was Jason. He was fast asleep on his side, his back to the couch, almost like he was guarding him. Rose was lying right beside him, extremely close but not touching, and beside her was Gar. The other mattress was empty but the blankets and pillows made it clear that it had been occupied at some point. Rachel was lying on the other couch, her head on Kory’s lap, both of them also still sleeping and the armchair near them was taken by Conner with Krypto curled up on the floor beside him.

The sight, while heartwarming, was very confusing. He had no memory of them showing up. He didn’t even really know why they were here. They had made it pretty clear they didn’t want anything to do with him. He supposed that they might’ve been freaked out at him almost dying but they knew he was alive, so why would they come? He didn’t dare to hope that there could be another reason. Hoping led to disappointment and heartache, and he had enough of that.

The sound of something sizzling, people rummaging around and talking quietly suddenly captured Dick’s attention. He sat up, then realized something else that was strange. Moving didn’t hurt anymore. Looking down, he saw that all of his bruises, from the fall and from fighting Slade, were gone. Lifting his hand to his face, he felt that the bruises on his face and the cut were also gone. His gaze then went back over to Rachel. She must’ve healed him. He gave her a small smile, though she obviously didn’t see it, then he stood up, being careful not to step on anyone or wake anyone up, and made his way to the kitchen.

To his continued surprise, he found Donna, Dawn and Hank there, cooking breakfast sausages from the looks of it. For a few seconds, he stood there and watched silently, hit by a wave of confusion and nostalgia. It was almost like old times, back when they first started the Titans. Except he was usually one of the ones who did the cooking because he got up before the others did. Examining the room more closely, he saw that it had been tidied up. The garbage bags were gone, the floor was swept and the broken picture frames were gone. The only signs that remained of the place being attacked with the holes in the wall.

“Dick?” Turning his head back to face the original Titans members, Dick found all three looking at him.

“Morning.” He said, unsure of really what else to say. For a few seconds, they just stared at him, then Donna walked over to him with her arms outstretched and wrapped them around his shoulders, pulling him to her and holding him tightly. At first, he was slightly surprised, but he quickly relaxed and returned her hug as he realized this was the first time they had actually been able to see each other since they had been kidnapped and thought he was dead.

Feeling her shaking slightly and his bare shoulder started to become damp, Dick rubbed her back comfortingly and said, “It’s okay.”

“We thought you were dead.” She whispered in his ear.

“You should know by now that I’m not that easy to get rid of Donna.” He replied with a slight smirk, pulling away so he could get a look on her face. She gave him a small smile in return, but tears were still running down her cheeks, causing Dick to lift his hands to wipe them off.

“Are you okay?” Donna asked, the smile leaving her face, replaced by an expression of worry.

“I’m fine. I’m not the one who was kidnapped and held prisoner by an assassin.” Dick pointed out. Looking at her, then at Dawn and Hank who were watching and listening, he asked, “Are you guys alright?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. He didn’t hurt us.” Dawn assured him. Dick however looked over at her, then at Hank, finding that hard to believe after over two days of being the prisoners of a vengeful assassin they walked away without any injuries. However, he didn’t see any evidence of it. Maybe Rachel healed them.

“Good.” Dick finally replied.

Donna, though she stayed close, took another few steps away, giving him a little space. Again, Dick was a little confused but then Dawn walked over to him and pulled him to a hug. And again, he was surprised, but he quickly returned it. The last time Dawn hugged him was before the night where Jericho ‘died’.

Pulling away, Dawn gave him a smile and said, “We’re glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you guys are too.” Dick responded, smiling back, but the sound of someone taking a loud, deep breath drew his attention to Hank, who was watching them with a guarded expression. The younger vigilante dropped the smile, but resisted the urge to duck his head.

Without a word, or change in his expression, Hank slowly walked over to the small group, causing Dick to tense. He was already taken aback by the fact that everyone came to the Tower last night and stayed, and even more so by Donna and Dawn’s actions. He truly thought that when they saw him, that they would start yelling and blaming him again. It was the least he deserved for his many mistakes. Donna and Dawn might have seemed to forgive him, but he didn’t expect that much from Hank. The way he walked, the way he was looking at him reminded Dick a lot of when he punched him only a few days ago. So when Hank suddenly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug, Dick completely froze.

“Don’t ever do that to us again, you idiot.” The taller man said quietly, almost sounding like he was going to start crying or something.

Still completely in shock, Dick slowly returned the embrace and said, “Sorry.”

“No. No, we’re sorry.” Donna told him as Hank and Dick ended the hug.

“We were wrong to blame you. We were all at fault.” Dawn added. “And we’re really sorry, for everything we said and how we acted.”

“It’s okay.” Dick said with a sincere tone. As much as it hurt, and as much as he knew that they should probably talk about it more, right now he just wanted to put all of this behind them.

The other three looked like they wanted to discuss more, but they seemed to let it go, at least for now. Needing a change in topic, Dick asked, “What’s for breakfast?”

**2018TITANS2018**

Gar was pulled from his dream about ice cream by the feeling of something wet tickling his feet. Instinctively, he kicked his leg away, right into someone else’s leg.

“Ow!” Gar heard Rose yell before he felt her kick him back, much harder than he did to her.

“Hey!” He shouted as he sat up, spying Krypto standing right by his feet watching them. Rose immediately followed.

“You kicked first.” Rose responded as she also sat up, glaring at Gar.

“What’s going on?” The two heard Kory ask with a sleepy voice. Looking over to the couch, they saw that she was staring at them while Rachel opened her eyes, giving them a death glare. They must’ve woken them up.

“Krypto licked my foot. I moved it and accidentally kicked Rose. She then kicked me back, hard.” Gar said, his eyes hardening at the one-eyed teenager.

“Someone kicks me, I kick back. That’s how it works.” Rose defended herself.

“It was Krypto’s fault.” Gar replied, causing Conner, who had also woken up, to rush to his dog’s side.

“No it wasn’t. He didn’t mean to.” Conner told them, looking as though they were about to kick Krypto in payback or something.

“Calm down, all of you. It was an accident. Just forget about it.” Kory replied, sounding a mix of tired and annoyed.

“Sounds good to me. Now shut up so I can sleep.” Jason mumbled, burying his head back into his pillow. Gar frowned but was about to lie back down and go back to sleep when he noticed that the couch where Dick had been sleeping was empty.

“Where’s Dick?” Gar asked. Instantly everyone shot up, completely alert, and looked over at the couch, seeing that he was right. Dick was gone.

“Dawn, Hank and Donna are gone too.” Rose quickly noticed. Before anyone could say anything else, they heard sounds coming from the kitchen.

Immediately they all got up and rushed into the kitchen. Dawn, Donna, Hank and Dick all sat around the kitchen island, eating whatever they had made for breakfast. Apparently, they heard them coming because the four original Titans turned their heads to look at them.

“Morning.” Dawn said with a smile, but Rachel, Gar, Kory and Jason barely paid any attention to her as their focus was completely on Dick. He was still wearing the same sweats he did last night but now had on a grey T-shirt, covering the scars that were previously exposed.

“You guys sleep good?” Dick asked, also smiling and Rachel felt her eyes fill with tears. Apparently seeing that, Dick dropped the smile and stood up off his stool.

The second he was standing upright, Rachel practically flew straight into him, arms around his neck and pulling him as close as she possibly could. Dick immediately returned the hug, holding her as tight as she was holding him and the tears started falling from her eyes. He didn’t say anything though until she said, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He told her, lifting a hand to cradle the back of her head.

As his shirt became wet with Rachel’s tears, Dick looked back up at Kory, Gar, Jason, Rose and Conner. Conner was smiling at them, like he was really happy. Rose seemed to appear like she was a little annoyed by the sappy scene but he could tell she was actually in a good mood. Jason had almost a lost expression on his face which worried the first Robin a little while Kory looked a little misty. Gar however, came over to them once he met Dick’s eyes, arms outstretched. Dick lifted one arm so he could wrap it around the green-haired teenager once he joined the hug.

“Are you okay?” Gar asked, his voice a little muffled.

“Yeah I’m fine. Are you guys okay?” Dick returned the question.

“We’re alright. Better now that we know you’re alive.” Rachel answered as she pulled out of the group hug, Gar following.

Kory then walked over to him and said, “You better not do something like that ever again Grayson.”

“I’ll do my best.” Dick said, his smile turning to a slightly cocky grin. Kory shook her head a little at that before she hugged him too.

After a few seconds, the hug ended and Dick looked over at Jason. The new Robin still had that lost expression on his face and still hadn’t said anything, making Dick nervous. Everyone’s reaction wasn’t what he expected and he had no doubt that Jason’s would be as well. But Dick wasn’t going to push anything.

For at least a minute, they just stared at each other, then Jason put on his confident smirk and asked, “What’s for breakfast?”

“French toast and breakfast sausage.” Dick answered, doing his best to not appear confused by Jason’s sudden and random question.

“Sounds good. I’m starved.” Jason responded as he bounced over to the kitchen island. Dick simply shook his head and looked back to the others, gesturing to come get something to eat as well.

**2018TITANS2018**

Jason went through his room with a fine-tooth comb, wanting to make sure that he packed everything that was his. At breakfast, after Dick told him how he survived Slade’s gunshot, which had everyone staring at him in disbelief before Hank broke out laughing, he informed them that they had to leave the Tower. Though Slade was locked up, their home had been compromised, invaded. It wasn’t safe here anymore. So, until new arrangements could be made, the would be staying in Bruce’s safehouse.

“Hey. Do you need any more boxes?” Jason titled his head to see Dick standing in the doorway.

“No, I think I’m good.” He answered, glancing around the room just to make sure. His suitcases weren’t full yet and he didn’t have much more left to pack.

“Okay. If you change your mind, there’s more in the living room.” Dick informed him.

“Got it.” Jason said, shooting him a thumbs up. When he noticed that he was about to leave though, he called out, “Hey Dick?”

“Yeah?” Dick responded, looking over at him curiously.

“Um, thank you. For saving my life.” Jason told him.

“No problem.” He replied with a small but sincere smile. Again, he made to walk down the hall, thinking that that was all, but Jason apparently had more to say.

“Would, would you still have, if you didn’t have that board under your sweater,” Jason started to ask, but then stopped before he could finish, unable to get the words out and a little scared of Dick’s answer.

Dick entered the room and came to stand in front of the younger man. He then put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I would’ve taken that bullet for you no matter what.”

“Why? You don’t even really like me.” Jason responded with a confused voice.

“I do, it’s just,” Dick paused, trying to explain what all happened and why he had such mixed emotions towards the new Robin. “Sit down.”

Jason stared at him, still looking confused, but sat down on the foot of his bed. Dick sat down beside him, then started to explain.

“When Bruce and I parted ways, it wasn’t on good terms. And he basically gave the impression that he would never have a partner again. So finding out he did decide to take you on, was a shock. Especially since he gave you the name Robin.” Dick then paused again, and seeing the somewhat stunned and still slightly confused look on Jason’s face made him feel like a jerk. He had always known that Jason most likely didn’t know what happened between him and Bruce and the truth behind Robin, but now he had confirmation.

“When Bruce took me in, and I found out he was Batman, at first, he didn’t want me to join him. Said kids had no place out on the streets. I went out anyways. He soon learned that I wasn’t going to stop and rather than let me get myself killed out there, he decided to train me.” Dick revealed. He then looked straight into Jason’s eyes and with a hard voice, he said, “But, I am the one who designed that suit. I am the one who picked those colours, and the name Robin. Robin was the nickname my Mom gave me, when I was little. She said that when she would see me on the trapeze, I reminded her of her favourite bird, which were robins.”

At that, Jason’s mouth fell open. His words from back when he first met the older hero came back to him and he couldn’t believe that Dick didn’t punch him right then and there for how he acted towards the mantle. “Oh Dick,”

“I started going out because I wanted to find the man who killed my parents. So I chose that name, and those colours to honour them. And Bruce didn’t know all of that, but he did know that it was a family thing, so it see that he just gave it away like it was his, when it wasn’t, really hurt. And yes, I did take that out on you.” Dick admitted, lowering his head a little in shame.

“I didn’t know.” Jason whispered, causing Dick to look back up at him.

“I know you didn’t. I’m sorry for how I acted when we first met and I’m sorry for, not really seeing how you were struggling to fit in here and with Bruce ordering you to come here.” Dick apologized. Putting a comforting hand on Jason’s shoulder, he added, “And I am really sorry for everything you went through with Slade because of me.”

“That wasn’t your fault. And, knowing the whole story now, you had every right to be upset with me being Robin.” Jason responded with an understanding tone.

“Not with you. With Bruce.” Dick corrected.

“Are you still mad about that? Because I can take a different name and get a different suit if you want.” Jason offered. As much as he loved being Robin, and as much as he believed that Robin was so much more than what Dick originally created him for, it was still his and he should have the final say what happened with him.

“I’ll get over it. I told you before, you’re Robin now. It’s all yours. And above all, Robin means family, which you are.” Dick told him, giving the younger man a grin which made Jason smile.

“Thank you.”

Dick nodded, patted his shoulder, then stood up and made his way out of the room as he said, “Alright little wing, finish packing.”

“‘Little wing’?” Jason said, furrowing his eyebrows at the sudden nickname. Dick had never given him a nickname before. At least, not that he knew about, and while this particular one made him feel a bit like a kid, it also made him feel like he really was part of this makeshift family and he could definitely get used to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It kind of bugs me that Jason doesn’t know the whole story behind Dick creating Robin and I’ve read that ‘Little Wing’ was the nickname that Dick gave Jason and I wanted to use it. Of course it makes me sad since I think the majority of us knows what happens to Jason, but I wanted Dick and Jason to have a better relationship and since the writers refused to give it to us, I made it happen myself.   
> And the special announcement is that chapter 11, the last chapter of this story will actually be up tomorrow! See you all then!


	11. A New Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Welcome to the last chapter! Hopefully with this story, and another story that I was working on being both done that I will be able to work more on Prince of Gotham. Hope you guys like this chapter!

Three days after everyone had packed up their stuff and left the Tower, they had somewhat made themselves at home in Bruce’s safe-house. Bruce and Leslie had left for Gotham a while ago but Dick was still in contact with the billionaire as they worked on finding a new space for the Titans. Bruce had offered to let the safe-house be their new base but Dick insisted they needed their own place. Rachel and Gar didn’t really understand why it was such a big deal, but the others, especially Donna, agreed with Dick. And they supposed that the house was a little crowded with seven people in it right now. It wasn’t like the house was a mansion after all and Rachel already was feeling a need for more privacy.

Jericho had left not long after they returned to the house to go see his Mom. Though they didn’t see or talk to her, they had heard from Bruce that she was beyond grateful to have her son back. Rose left with him, wanting to spend time with her newfound brother and also wanting see her own Mom. She didn’t really give an explanation besides that something personal had come up and she had to go deal with it. As much as everyone wanted to know, they respected privacy.

“Aren’t you going to do anything about these boxes?” Dick looked up from his work on his computer to look down the hall from his spot in the living to see Rachel standing by the door that went to his room.

“Like what?” He asked as she came over to him. Gar, Jason and Conner, who were in the room with him teaching the clone how to play video games, looked over to listen in on what they were saying. Donna, who was on the couch beside Dick, also lowered her book and turned her attention to what was going on.

“Unpacking them.” Rachel suggested, coming to a stop across from the detective.

“We won’t be here long and there’s nothing in there that I need.” Dick responded, then turned his attention back to the task he was doing before Rachel interrupted him.

“You still had unpacked boxes in the Tower. What was the excuse then?” Gar wondered, joining the conversation.

“I grew up moving around constantly. The only time I fully unpacked was when Bruce took me in.” Dick explained, not even looking at Gar so that the green-haired teenager would realize that he wanted to drop the subject.

For a minute, it went silent and Dick thought he would be able work in peace, but then Gar said, “I still can’t believe Bruce Wayne is Batman.”

Dick barely bit back a sigh. It didn’t take long after they were rescued for them to realize that Bruce is Batman and the only thing the others who did already know could do was confirm it. Rose and Conner, having not really cared about Batman and other heroes or know about other heroes, didn’t care that much about Batman’s identity. Rachel and Gar on the other hand were surprised and shocked. Mostly Gar. When Rachel thought about it, she saw that considering Bruce had taken both Dick and Jason in and had the money to get the equipment that they all needed, it all made sense. Gar still apparently had a hard time wrapping his around the whole thing.

“Just promise you won’t freak out if he ever comes back around.” Dick told him. “While Superman and the Flash are pretty good with fans freaking out over them, Batman is not.”

“Yeah, Batman is not good with people, at all.” Hank threw in as he and Dawn entered the room. Donna stayed silent but nodded in agreement, as did Jason.

At the mention of the other heroes, Gar perked up. Conner also suddenly gave them his attention at the word ‘Superman’. Dick hadn’t had a chance to call Clark and let him know about his clone, but he knew he would have to soon. Clark needed to know and Conner clearly wanted to meet the alien. Before anyone could say anything though, they heard the sound of a door opening followed by both Rose and Jericho coming into the room, backpacks hanging off their shoulders.

“Hey losers.” Rose said with a grin as she dropped her bag. Jericho, who was right behind her, was also grinning and raised his hands to sign at them and though he didn’t know for sure, Dick was sure that he said the same thing his sister did. He was starting to recognize some signs.

“Rose. Jericho.” Dawn said in shock.

“What are you guys doing here? I thought,” Dick started, then stopped. When Jericho and Rose had left, they didn’t say if they were coming back and no one asked. As much as Dick cared about Jericho, and had come to care about Rose as well, he knew they had been through so much and if they just wanted to go home to their normal lives, they had every right to that.

Rose and Jericho exchanged looks, then Rose turned back to face them and said, “Well, we talked and we decided that, if there is room, we might be better off here.”

“Of course there’s room.” Dick responded with a smile, turning back to face them. Jericho and Rose both beamed at that, but only Jericho came over and hugged him.

“Welcome back you two.” Hank added with a grin of his own. Jericho looked over at him, then when over to hug him too. The older vigilante froze a little in shock, but his smile quickly grew and he returned the embrace. As Dick watched and looked over at everyone in the room, he felt a sense of peace come over him that he hadn’t felt since Garth died and wasn’t sure he’d ever feel again. It was like their family was back together again, and he was beyond grateful.

**2018TITANS2018**

Dick made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. It was almost one in the morning, but he was still wide awake despite going to bed three hours ago. He had been tossing and turning constantly, his mind running through everything that had happened over the last two weeks.

After the somewhat got settled into their temporary house, they all had a very long, and a little emotional, talk about everything that happened before Slade kidnapped the majority of them. They talked about what was going on in their heads when Dick confessed how Jericho really died. How Hank, Dawn and Donna realized how they were wrong to blame him solely for their friend died. How Donna hid the details of Garth’s death and her own lies.

Rachel also revealed her own issues with her powers and why she kept it a secret from Dick. And, though they had to prod him and he was extremely annoyed with them for making him, Jason, reluctantly, told them about his own issues being with the Titans, and the others finally apologized for how they treated him before Slade attacked. As awkward as it was, and as much as Dick, and probably the others, hated having to open up like that, it was necessary and would hopefully bring them all closer.

After filling his cup with water, he took a few sips but before he could actually finish it, he noticed something strange outside through the window. There was someone in the backyard, sitting on the bench. He didn’t think that much of it, figuring that it was just someone else having a hard time falling asleep, but then he saw that the person was a redhead. Looking a little closer, he realized that it was Kory. She was back.

He slowly and silently opened the door and walked outside. He couldn’t see her face at all, but he could see her posture and the way she was staring up at the sky. She seemed upset about something. Upset and deep in thought. Part of Dick wanted to approach her, ask her what was wrong and find a way to fix it, but he wondered if she just wanted to be alone for a little while and that was why she hadn’t come into the house yet. How long had she been out here anyways?

“What are you staring at?” Kory suddenly asked, shocking Dick as she didn’t look at him or seem to hear him at all.

“I was just wondering if I should leave you alone or ask you what’s wrong.” Dick responded, taking another few steps closer to her.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” Kory wondered, turning her head so she could see him.

“I’m a detective.” He explained, shrugging his shoulders. Though it was a simple answer, Kory didn’t ask for more details. She simply turned her head back to look up at the sky.

“When I was gone, right before I came to the Tower, I met up with an old friend of mine. Faddei. He was my royal guard on Tamaran.” Kory revealed after a minute or two of silence.

“Royal guard?” Dick questioned, finally coming to stand right beside the bench where she was sitting.

“I got all of my memories back.” Kory told him, looking back over at him. “I’m actually Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran, heir to the throne.”

Dick stared at her in shock, his mouth actually dropping open a little as he sat down beside her. Kory chuckled a little as she asked, “Did I seriously make you speechless?”

Her words seemed to snap him out of it a little and he said, “What did Faddei want?”

“To bring me back so I can take the throne.” Kory replied. Dick still appeared to be having a bit of a hard time processing everything that she was saying, but wasn’t rendered completely speechless again.

“Why didn’t you go then?”

“Because Rachel needed me.” The alien explained, causing Dick to nod in understanding. He would’ve done the same thing in her shoes.

“How can one girl enter both of our lives and suddenly have us wrapped around her finger before we even know it?” Dick suddenly asked, only now realizing that he would do anything for the teenager even though she had literally been a stranger that showed up at the station where he worked needing help only a few months ago.

“I have no idea.” Kory responded, shaking her head and the two laughed a little at the fact that Dick pointed out.

After they calmed down a little, Dick asked, “So what now?”

“I can’t go back.” The redhead mumbled, looking down at the ground. Dick suddenly grew worried about what all happened when she was gone.

“Kory?” Dick said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“My sister Blackfire, Komand’r, she staged a coup. She killed our parents, everyone that was loyal to me and took the throne. She even managed to gain control of Faddei. I, I had to kill him.” She admitted, her head dropping more and more with each word. Dick felt his heart break at her pain-filled voice and her words. No one deserved any of that, least of all Kory.

“I’m so sorry Kory.” He said, unable to really think of everything else to say. When she didn’t respond or look at him, he squeezed her shoulder and added, “It’s not your fault.”

“You don’t know anything about it.” She shot back, glaring at him.

“I may not be royalty and I may not know what kind of life you and your family had, but I do know what it’s like to lose your entire family and being somewhere other than home.” He replied somewhat harshly.

Kory froze at that. Dick never talked about it but when she was hanging out with Donna, she had told her about how Dick’s parents died and how he became Robin. However she had forgotten about it until now. Looking over at him, she quietly asked, “What did you do to get through it?”

“I learned that family isn’t always blood. A lot of times, your family is just people you love. And before I knew it, I had a new family.” Dick answered. “Not going to lie, when I realized that I had a new family, I felt guilty. Like I was betraying my other family, but I knew that they would’ve wanted me to be happy and to have that family.”

Looking back over at her, he said, “I don’t know what your parents were like Kory, but I’m sure that’s what they would want for you too. And you deserve it.”

“I think that’s going to be too dangerous. Komand’r will eventually come after me, to make sure that I can never be a threat to her rule.” She told him, glancing back down at the ground.

“Well, she’s going to get quite a surprise if she does.”

Hearing that, Kory snapped her head back up to face him and said, “It’s too dangerous.”

“Have you seen our lives? Danger is what we were trained for.” Dick pointed out with a grin. Kory wanted to argue further, but seeing the look in his eyes, she knew that he wouldn’t listen to her. That he had already made up his mind and nothing was going to change his mind. And she knew, that once the others found out about what was going on, they would side with him.

“You know, for as cold and distant as you acted when we first met, you’ve got a soft heart.” Kory said, nudging him a little with her elbow.

“Don’t tell anyone. It would ruin my reputation.” He responded, his smirk widening a little.

With a smile, she placed her head on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

The two then sat quietly beside each other and watched the stars until they started to disappear as the sun came up and they finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in case you guys got a little confused because I’m not sure if I explained right, after they moved out of the Tower, they went to the safe-house where Kory got the phone call from Faddei. That’s when Blackfire took over Faddei and Kory learned about her family’s death and was forced to kill Faddei. Jericho and Rose left that night to see their Moms, and after they were gone, the remaining Titans had their big talk. Two days later, Jericho and Rose showed back up and then Kory came back that night. Hope you guys all liked this story! See you all later!

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to be a little evil with this ending. Sorry (not sorry). And yeah, I know this chapter is kinda sloppy, but I hope it was at least somewhat interesting. Also, while I may have had Donna flying in my other story, she probably won't in this one. Sorry. For now, updates will be on Fridays. See you guys then!


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